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Autonomous vehicle technology startup Pony.Ai said it would set up a joint venture with Japan’s Toyota Motor with an investment of 1 billion yuan ($139 million) for mass production of robotaxis.
The new company, which will also involve Toyota’s joint venture with Chinese state-owned Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC), will be established this year and will see GAC-Toyota produce cars that will use Pony.Ai’s ride-hailing software, it said.
Pony.Ai has launched robotaxi services in Beijing and Guangzhou. Toyota last month said it planned to accelerate local design and development of “smart cockpits” that meet the needs of the Chinese market, as part of a broad pivot to electric vehicles as it seeks to catch up with increasingly aggressive local rivals.