Pony.ai begins HK trading, eyes profitability around 2028

Chinese robotaxi company Pony.ai is expected to turn profitable in three to four years, its top executive said on Thursday.

"After nearly nine years of relentless innovation and exploration, Pony.ai stands on the brink of large-scale commercialization," said founder and CEO James Peng.

"Once our fleet reaches about 50,000 vehicles, our cash flow can essentially turn positive," he said, adding that the company expects to hit that scale around 2028 or 2029 based on its current rollout speed.

Peng made the remarks as Pony.ai made its trading debut in Hong Kong on Thursday, giving the company a dual-primary listing structure across the US and Hong Kong.

The listing comes less than a year after the autonomous driving company floated shares on Nasdaq.

"Our Hong Kong listing represents not only a critical step in our capital strategy but also a milestone in connecting with global markets and resources," Peng said.

He said the decision to list in Hong Kong shortly after its US IPO was deliberate, given that "our home base and markets are in China", and because reputation and capital from Asia "will be extremely important for the company's next stage of development".

Pony.ai, founded in 2016, is the only company licensed to operate fully driverless Level 4 robotaxi services across all four of China's tier-one cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong province.

The company has accumulated more than 55 million kilometers of autonomous driving mileage to date.

Its Gen-7 robotaxi platform — unveiled in April and jointly developed with Toyota, BAIC and GAC — reduces the bill-of-materials cost of core systems by more than 70 percent compared with the previous generation.

Computing unit costs fell 80 percent and solid-state LiDAR costs dropped 68 percent, laying the groundwork for commercial mass production, the company said.

Speaking about Pony.ai's cooperation with Toyota, Peng said one of the three Gen-7 models, co-developed with Toyota and based on the bZ4X platform, will begin mass production at the end of this year or early next year.

Pony.ai and Toyota have also formed a joint venture that extends beyond car manufacturing. "This JV is not only for vehicle production — we are also working together on robotaxi operations," Peng said. "It's a deep and long-term strategic partnership."

Co-founder and CTO Lou Tiancheng said the Hong Kong listing marks a turning point in the company's development trajectory.

"The ringing of the gong today marks our leap from technological exploration to full-scale autonomous commercial operations," he said. "What we've built is not merely an autonomous driving system, but a new, scalable paradigm for mobility services."

"This listing is the starting point of a new chapter," Lou said. "We're moving toward a revolution in efficiency and safety that will redefine the way people move."