[KR-US-China Robotaxi War]②Pony AI Logs 10 Billion km Weekly in Virtual World... "3,000 Robotaxis to Be Deployed Globally"

Interview with Hyun Sunghwi, Head of Korea Business Strategy at Pony AI

"Learning to Handle Extremely Rare and Challenging Situations"

"An Average of 26 Ride Requests per Day... Economic Viability Already Achieved"

Production Cost Red

Editor's Note
Driverless taxis, or "robotaxis," have emerged as a core element of future mobility. The race has moved beyond simple technological competition to a "data supremacy war" focused on who can accumulate more driving data and generate real profits. China, backed by aggressive government support, is amassing vast amounts of data, while the United States is asserting its dominance with unrivaled AI technology. Meanwhile, despite Korea’s world-class manufacturing capabilities, the country is struggling to accelerate full-scale commercialization due to various regulations and insufficient institutional frameworks. The Asia Business Daily takes an in-depth look at the unmanned driving scenes in Beijing, China, and Las Vegas, USA, the data strategies of big tech companies from both countries, and the current state of autonomous driving in Korea. Through this three-part special series, we examine the global robotaxi battleground and explore survival strategies for our industry.

There is a taxi that travels the equivalent of 250,000 laps around the Earth each week—about 10 billion kilometers. This is the robotaxi operated by Pony.ai, a Chinese autonomous driving company. These miles are not driven on actual roads. Instead, it is the amount of training Pony.ai conducts in the virtual world every week to commercialize fully autonomous Level 4 robotaxis. Pony.ai, which has already begun commercial robotaxi operations in China, is planning to deploy 3,000 robotaxis worldwide by the end of this year.

On March 3, at Pony.ai’s Beijing office, Hyun Sunghwi, Head of Korea Business Strategy, said, “The actual commercialization of robotaxis has already started in China,” adding, “Our goal is to deploy 3,000 robotaxis worldwide, including China, by the end of this year.”

Pony.ai was founded in 2016 and introduced its first robotaxi in China in 2018. In its early days, the service operated with a human safety driver for security reasons, but since 2021, it has transitioned to a fully driverless format. In China, commercial services are being operated in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. In the fourth quarter of last year alone, more than 1,000 robotaxis were in operation for commercial use, and they have collectively transported passengers for over 60 million kilometers.

The 7th generation robotaxi is exhibited at the Pony AI office in the Yizhuang Economic and Technological Development Zone, Beijing, China. Beijing (China) - Photo by Lee Seungjin

The robotaxis operated by Pony.ai continue to evolve. Hyun explained, “You can think of Pony.ai as a company that trains virtual drivers. While real-world roads have spatial and time limits, our virtual drivers train on simulated roads covering more than 10 billion kilometers every week.”

Hyun confidently asserted that Pony.ai's virtual drivers ensure a higher level of safety than human drivers. He said, “In the virtual environment, the system continuously learns to handle extreme situations that a human driver might never encounter in a lifetime behind the wheel. In Tesla’s case, their AI learns from videos of human drivers, which means it is ultimately limited to the level of human driving.”

Currently, the Yizhuang Economic and Technological Development Zone in Beijing operates a "high-level autonomous driving pilot zone" covering about 220 square kilometers. Here, companies such as Pony.ai, Baidu, and WeRide operate robotaxi or robobus services. Among them, only Pony.ai provides service even during rush hours for commuting. This is because Pony.ai has demonstrated agile responsiveness even under the most extreme traffic conditions.

Pony.ai plans to expand full-scale commercialization by supplying 3,000 robotaxis worldwide by the end of this year, about three times the current number. Since February 9, a robotaxi jointly developed with the Chinese joint venture of Toyota has entered commercial production. The Platinum 4X robotaxi, which is equipped with Pony.ai’s 7th generation autonomous driving system and based on Toyota’s electric SUV “bZ4X,” is now being deployed.

A Pony.ai robotaxi driving on the road in E-Zhuang (Yizhuang) Economic and Technological Development Zone, Beijing, China.
Beijing, China – Photo by Seungjin Lee

Hyun expressed strong confidence in Pony.ai’s commercialization prospects. “The number of users is rapidly increasing, especially among younger generations, and features such as karaoke mode—where passengers can sing during their ride—are attracting attention,” he said. “In Shenzhen, for example, during the Lunar New Year holiday, each robotaxi received an average of 26 ride requests per day, proving our economic viability.”

He continued, “After years of research and development, we have reduced the production cost per vehicle by 70% compared to the early days. By improving the efficiency of our autonomous driving algorithms, we have reduced the number of components required, and as the market has expanded, the cost of parts from suppliers has also decreased.” In the past, autonomous vehicles needed to be equipped with multiple devices such as LiDAR sensors and high-resolution cameras on mass-produced vehicles, resulting in cars that looked like they were wearing oversized hats. However, robotaxis operated by Pony.ai now look little different from ordinary vehicles.

A crucial issue in the expansion of robotaxis is the conflict with the existing taxi industry. There are concerns that the proliferation of robotaxis could lead to job losses in the taxi sector. However, Pony.ai insists that robotaxis are not in direct competition with traditional taxis.

Hyun stated, “We have no plans to engage in unfair competition by offering ultra-low prices; we operate at rates similar to standard taxi fares. Luxury services ultimately have to be provided by humans, and the needs of customers who use robotaxis are fundamentally different from those who use regular taxis.” He added, “A significant number of our current safety and remote monitoring staff used to be taxi drivers.”

Pony.ai also plans to collaborate with various countries around the world, including Korea. Hyun said, “If full driverless autonomous driving is approved in Korea, we expect to partner with local companies to offer a variety of services. The Korean government has recently announced a plan to become a powerhouse in autonomous driving, and depending on future policy changes, we anticipate rapid growth.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.