Page 22 - EE Times Europe Magazine - June 2025

22 EE|Times EUROPE

Pony AI Update: Robotaxis and Robotruck Services

Table 2: Pony AI Robotruck Overview
Key Information Other Information
L2+ initial focus: Get trucks on road earlier Quicker revenue potential
Strategy: hub-to-hub
L4 when the technology is read Timing also depends on regulations
December 2020: L2+ in Guangzhou July 2021: L2+ in Beijing
Testing start January 2024: Cross-provincial permit Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei
December 2024: Platoon cross-provincial Driver only in first truck
March 2021: L2+ service Hub-to-hub long-haul service
Commercial start
Fare-charging service: Early 2024 Beijing and Tianjin
190 in April 2025 and November 2024 Mostly L2+ and some L4 testing
Robotaxis in use
160 used by Cyantron Logistics Service to Sinotrans
Robotruck miles April 2025: 35.4 million (57 million km) Includes L2+ and L4 miles
Cumulative AV miles April 2025: 3.54 million (5.7 million km) October 2024: 3.11 million (5.0 million km)

Freight ton-kilometers (miles used in U.S.) Freight weight times distance in kilometers
Robotruck metric
L2+ and L4: 926M freight ton-kilometers By April 10, 2025; Mostly L2+
Testing permit in Guangzhou In December 2020
Testing permit in Beijing In July 2021
Robotruck service areas
January 2024: First cross-provincial test permit Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region tests
City fare charging permit: Q1 2024 Beijing and Tianjin
Logistics companies: Sinotrans Started in December 2021
Key customers
Truck OEMs: Sany (leading truck producer) May 2022: L4 development

U.S. testing: CA DMV Safety driver: 2018–2024; 1.156 million miles Highest of all Chinese companies
Driverless: 2021; 9,000+ miles Lost driverless permit
Joint venture (JV) Co-owns Cyantron with Sinotrans Owns 51% of the JV
(Source: Pony AI data; Compilation: Egil Juliussen, May 2025)

further along and permits are easier to get. Fare-charging permits are A key robotruck metric is how much freight is transported, which is
also easier to obtain, potentially shrinking time to revenue. measured in freight ton-kilometers (or ton-miles in the U.S.), calcu-
Robotruck testing started in December 2020 and has expanded to lated by multiplying freight weight and distance traveled. As of
multiple cities and across provinces. Commercial operation began in April 10, 2025, Pony AI had transported 926 million freight ton-
March 2021 with L2+ driving between hubs. kilometers (575 freight ton-miles).
Robotruck customers are primarily logistics companies and truck
OEMs, and Pony AI has one key customer in each of the two segments: REVENUE TRENDS
Sinotrans and Sany. Pony AI currently has 190 robotrucks, with L2+ Pony AI’s annual revenue remains low and is growing slowly, as shown
accounting for most of the trucks in service. The number of robotrucks in Table 3. Its revenue is based on three product segments: robotaxi
has not changed since the IPO in November 2024. Cyantron Logistics, services, robotruck services, and licensing applications. Robotaxi
a Pony AI JV with Sinotrans, uses 160 of the robotrucks. Robotruck L2+ services is the smallest segment, having accounted for less than 10% in
and L4 cumulative miles were 35.4 million (57 million km) in 2024, because paid services remain limited in this segment. Robotaxi
April 2025. Self-driving L4 distance was much lower, at service is likely to pick up, as all four Tier 1 cities will have paid ser-
3.54 million miles (5.7 million km). vices by the end of 2025.

Table 3: Pony AI Revenue
Year-End: 2022 2023 2024
Segment $ (000) Share $ (000) Share $ (000) Share

Robotaxi service 8,967 13.1% 7,675 10.7% 7,266 9.7%
Robotruck service 22,368 32.7% 25,021 34.8% 40,365 53.8%
Licensing and apps 37,051 54.2% 39,203 54.5% 27,394 36.5%

Total revenue 68,386 100% 71,899 100% 75,025 100%
Revenue growth N/A — 5.1% — 4.3% —
(Source: Pony AI data; Compilation: Egil Juliussen, May 2025)

JUNE 2025 | www.eetimes.eu