Toyota-backed self-driving startup Pony.ai considers IPO to improve growth

26 June, 2021
Toyota-backed self-driving startup Pony.ai considers IPO to improve growth
Self-driving tech company Pony.ai, backed by Toyota Motor, is considering going public in the US to greatly help fund its goal of commercialising driverless ride-hailing services, its leader told Reuters.

The startup, mixed up in US and China, plans to set up its technology in hundreds of vehicles next year, rising to thousands in 2024-2025, he said.

Self-driving startups such as for example Alphabet's Waymo and General Motors’ Cruise have already been racing to improve capital as the industry prepares to scale up operations.

Still, beyond the time taken up to address technological challenges and the massive cost of making self-driving cars, the industry still must persuade global regulators in addition to the public regarding the safety of full automation.

"For autonomous driving, it's a big opportunity. But at the same time, it's a long term, big opportunity," James Peng said within an interview with Reuters.

"So it requires a long lead way for spending. That means all the autonomous driving companies have to raise enough funding to aid their operations," he said.

The comments come as Pony.ai on Friday said it had tapped Lawrence Steyn, vice chairman of investment banking at JPMorgan Chase & Co, as chief financial officer to greatly help "accelerate its commercial growth and global deployment".

"We're still debating and considering," said Mr Peng, when asked about enough time frame for a public share sale.

"It's only a different method of raising funds."

Pony.ai, founded by former Google and Baidu engineers Mr Peng and Lou Tiancheng in 2016, has up to now raised a lot more than $1 billion, including $462 million from Toyota, valuing the startup at $5.3bn as of late last year.

Earlier this month, it said it had begun driverless testing on public roads in California's Fremont and Milpitas ahead of the planned launch of a robotaxi service next year. It has additionally been testing driverless vehicles in Guangzhou, China.

The firm has operated robotaxi services with safety drivers behind the wheel in some parts of China, as well as in Irvine, California. Which has yielded various data which it might use to teach its driver system and tap a talent pool in both countries, Mr Peng said.

He said another big challenge is to lessen manufacturing charges for driverless vehicles while expanding into more cities and regions and ensuring safety in different environments.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com
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