Toyota Forms JV With Pony.ai To Build Robotaxis In China

Toyota Motor Corp TM inked a joint venture deal with the autonomous driving tech company, Pony.ai and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd GNZUF to create a self-driving taxi (Robotaxi) related business.

The joint venture will be created this year, with an investment of over 1 billion yuan (~$139 million).

The companies plan to launch a Robotaxi vehicle based on Toyota's pure EV brand.

The vehicles will be fitted with Toyota's T-Pilot intelligent driving assistance system and deploy GAC Toyota dealers' mature service operation system to escort the completely unmanned and safe operation.

"The Chinese auto market is developing at an unprecedented speed, and electrification and intelligence have become the development direction of the new energy vehicle industry. Against this background, Toyota China and GAC Toyota jointly decided to , established a joint venture company with Pony.ai, an important partner in the field of autonomous driving, and took the lead in promoting the commercialization of Robotaxi in China," said Tatsuro Ueda, director of Toyota Motor Corporation China.

In 2019, Toyota started a strategic collaboration with Pony.ai to develop high-level autonomous vehicles for mobile travel services in China. 

Since then, there have been around 200 vehicles based on Lexus RX450h, and the Toyota Sienna (the prototype of Robotaxi) has already offered self-driving mobile travel services across Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen through the operation platform of Pony.ai.

In 2020, Toyota invested $400 million in Pony.ai to boost collaboration with the company, as per Bloomberg. 

Earlier this week, Toyota posted Q1 FY24 sales revenue of ¥10.5 trillion ($76.98 billion), higher than ¥8.5 trillion ($65.56 billion) a year ago.

The company held ¥7.9 trillion in cash and equivalents as of June 30, 2023.

Also Read: Toyota Ramps Up Local EV Tech Development In China

Price Action: TM shares are trading higher by 1.26% at $170.69 premarket on the last check Friday.