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California has let two Chinese startups offer robotaxis to the public TechCrunch

China’s Pony.ai nabs $102M at nearly $1B valuation to take its self driving platform up another
gear TechCrunch

China's Pony.ai races Google to bring driverless cars to masses Aisa.Nikkelc.om

8 Questions With James Peng of Pony.ai, One of China's Most Valuable Autonomous Vehicle
Startups Times

Crunchbase Funding Info Crucchbase

Toyota to pilot autonomous vehicle program with Chinese startup [Video] - Autofinace News

Pony Pony.ai

Top Self Driving Car Companies & Startups to Watch Angel.co

Autonomous Driving Startup Pony.ai Raises $112M - Business Wire

Tags -
Artificial Intelligence, Automotive, Autonomous Vehicles,
Information Technology, Software, Transportation

Blog Name - The Story of

Pony - an Autonomous car
A New Beginning
Zhang Wei and his girlfriend are waiting for their cab. It’s 10 pm at night, and the
streets of Guangzhou are still bursting with traffic. They have just come out from
Guangzhou Department Store after watching a movie. Today Zhang is testing a
new app called PonyPilot his friend insisted him to use this to experience the
driverless car’s ride.

The future of city roads will be like a sci-fi movie where millions of driverless cars
will throng streets. With more than 25+ autonomous car startups and most of
them have already raised Series A funding, the future of autonomous vehicles will
be different.

According to Merriam-webster, the definition of Pony is- “one of any of several

breeds of very small stocky animals noted for their gentleness and endurance”. In
today’s world, you can’t travel reliably in chaotic city traffic with those breeds.
However, a new breed of driverless autonomous Pony can take you through
chaotic city roads. At the beginning of 2019 Pony had launched its PonyPilot an
app to book Pony for a ride. The city driving environment in any Asian country is
different than north-America and Europe. In any Chinese city, all types of
vehicles in various sizes and types are everywhere. Pony is capable enough to
drive through city and suburban traffic and perform driving functions for the
entire trip. Pony is also tested for inclement weather conditions.

A startup born with an Unfair Advantage -

The year 2016 has been phenomenal in the autonomous vehicle tech industry.
Singapore became the first country to provide driverless cars to the public. In the
same year, James Peng and Lou Tiancheng ventured into autonomous vehicle
tech space with their maiden venture Pony.ai.
James, now CEO of Pony, was one of the leaders in the autonomous driving
division at the Chinese search-engine company Baidu. Lou is a celebrity coder.
Pony has it’s an unfair advantage. Both the founders are world-class engineers
and leaders. James Peng had earned his PhD from Stanford University and
worked with Google before Joining Baidu. Lou Tiancheng had earned his PhD
from Tsinghua University and also had worked with Google’s autonomous vehicle
project. Both James and Lou are now leading world-class engineers who will
define the path of Pony.ai.

Photo Source Pony.ai

In the year 2017 poni.ai Pony team started testing its autonomous vehicle in the
southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. After a year, Pony started its operation in
California and had granted a license by California state to test a robotaxi service
in the state. Pony is ready to compete with its big brothers in the same space in
the market. Now the Pony has its offices in China and California. California, with
its Ai talents pool and history of autonomous vehicles projects, Pony’s leadership
team is focusing on California very seriously.
2019 a Defining Year
According to Crunchbase Pony has raised $264 million series B funding In the
Year 2019. In the same year, Pony has partnered with Toyota to launch an
autonomous vehicle program next month in Beijing and Shanghai. In the same
year in the month of November, It had struck a partnership deal with Korean
automobile giants Hyundai to launch shared on-demand, autonomous vehicle
service operation on public roads in Irvine a suburb of Los Angeles of California.
Source - Pony News

Working @ Pony
If you are in the intersection of Ai and automobile, you have reasons to think
about either working as a development partner with self Driving car startups or
taking a position to hone your skills. According to Pony careers, they are looking
for both Software and Hardware engineers in their Fremont office. And according
to Glassdoor there are more than 60+ positions they are filling up.