Pony.ai Shares Volatile Amid Strategic Tencent Partnership And Hesai Lidar Integration: What's Going On?

Pony AI Inc. PONY shares are trading lower Friday despite the company announcing two significant developments aimed at boosting its autonomous driving capabilities and commercialization efforts.

What To Know: Pony.ai announced a partnership with Tencent Cloud, the cloud arm of Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings. The deal is positioned to integrate Pony.ai’s Robotaxi services with Tencent's digital platforms, including Weixin and Tencent Maps, to broaden user access and support large-scale deployment of autonomous mobility solutions in China. Tencent will also provide backend support in cloud computing, big data, and AI infrastructure to enhance Pony.ai's virtual simulation tool, PonyWorld, and improve its real-world readiness through advanced testing environments.

At the same time, Pony.ai is pushing forward with hardware upgrades through a separate partnership with Hesai Group Inc. HSAI, selecting Hesai's AT128 lidar sensors as the primary system for its seventh-generation Robotaxi fleet. The announcement was made during the Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition on Thursday, where Pony.ai showcased its new L4 autonomous driving platform. The platform includes four AT128 sensors per vehicle, supporting 360-degree obstacle detection and navigation in dense urban environments.

Pony.ai claims the new system reduces component costs by 70% compared to earlier models and is designed with a modular structure to streamline deployment across different vehicle types. The company also disclosed that its fleet has accumulated over 500,000 hours of fully driverless operation and reports a tenfold improvement in safety compared to human drivers.

PONY Price Action: Pony shares were down 5.94% at $7.12 at the time of writing, according to Benzinga Pro.