The company said it was the first autonomous driving company
in the country to do so. The startup said it was awarded the license to operate
100 driverless vehicles in the Guangzhou city district of Nansha.
Pony.ai last year also won approval to launch paid
driverless robotaxi services in Beijing and has since begun offering rides.
In Beijing, however, rides are being offered in a much
smaller, industrial zone on a trial basis, a Pony.ai spokesperson said.
According to the company's statement, in Nansha, it will
start charging fares in the entire 800 square km of the district with
driverless cars. Passengers can hail and pay for rides with Pony.ai's own app.
Pony.ai will initially deploy those cars with safety drivers
but expects to remove them "over the short to intermediate time
frame," it said.
The announcement comes at a time when a host of startups are
pouring billions of dollars into autonomous technology, aiming to take an early
lead in the future of mobility.
Pony.ai has been active in the United States and China,
testing its driverless technology on public roads in California's Fremont and
Milpitas, as well as the Chinese cities of Guangzhou and Beijing.
In China, a host of local startups are competing. In recent
months, Momenta and automaker SAIC gained official approval for a trial for
their robotaxi service in Shanghai's Jiading district, a move that followed a
similar move in Guangzhou by Nissan-baked Weride.
In Shenzhen, Alibaba-backed AutoX is also testing robotaxis
— observed by safety drivers — in a highly congested urban area with lots of
pedestrian and moped traffic. © Reuters