Toyota steers $400 million to self-driving startup

[Skyonline]

Pony.ai, a self-driving startup based in Silicon Valley & Guangzhou, China, is deepening its ties to Toyota. The two companies announced a pilot program to test self-driving cars on public roads in two Chinese cities, Beijing and Shanghai. The Japanese auto giant plans to invest $400 million in Pony.ai, valuing the startup at $3 billion.

Pony.ai has been working with Toyota since 2019 on public autonomous vehicle testing. With this new investment, their relationship will become even closer, with the automaker and the startup “co-developing” mobility products like “mobility services.”

Pony.ai has been testing robot taxis in Beijing and Guangzhou since late 2018 as well as in Fremont and Irvine, California. The startup claims to be the first company to launch an autonomous ride-hailing operation and offer self-driving car rides to the general public in China.

Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, has largely kept quiet on its self-driving car program. The Japanese company has released some information about its test vehicles and the types of sensors it’s using, but we’ve seen very little of the cars in operation. Toyota plans to offer a limited ride-hailing pilot in downtown Tokyo during the 2020 Summer Olympics.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/25/21152817/toyota-pony-ai-self-driving-car-investment-valuation-china-silicon-valley

[Skyonline]

[ajm]

The performance and safety depends a lot on the local conditions ( Driving habits, Road signs, Lane markings..).

Wonder if these "self driving" cars will be tested in Sri lankan traffic BEFORE selling them.

Edited February 26, 2020 by ajm

[AVANTE]

45 minutes ago, ajm said:

The performance and safety depends a lot on the local conditions ( Driving habits, Road signs, Lane markings..).

Wonder if these "self driving" cars will be tested in Sri lankan traffic BEFORE selling them.

Those cars will commit sepekku after seeing the threewheels driven by Lankan self do their thing.