Uber said on Tuesday it was partnering with Pony AI to deploy the China-based robotaxi developer's vehicles onto its ride-hailing platform, marking the latest in a series of tie-ups aimed at strengthening its presence in the fledgling robotaxi sector.
U.S.-listed shares of Pony AI, which debuted on Nasdaq in November, jumped nearly 36%, while Uber shares rose 0.3%.
The partnership will launch in a key market in the Middle East later this year and will roll out to more international markets in the future.
During the initial pilot phase, Pony AI's vehicles will include a safety operator onboard before transitioning to a fully autonomous commercial launch.
Uber has signed several new partnerships and expanded existing collaborations in recent weeks, aiming better compete with Lyft and EV-maker Tesla in the robotaxi market.
The company announced deals with self-driving technology firms May Mobility and Momenta last week and recently expanded its partnership with China's WeRide to enter 15 more cities globally. Last year, the company also expanded its tie-up with Alphabet's Waymo.
Despite the engineering and regulatory hurdles, tech and EV companies have been racing to develop self-driving systems and eyeing large-scale commercial deployment of robotaxis.
The U.S. federal government is also facilitating the deployment of self-driving vehicles by expanding exemptions from specific safety requirements while maintaining mandatory incident reporting.
Founded in 2016 and backed by Toyota, Guangzhou-based Pony AI has been exploring expansion into South Korea, Luxembourg, the Middle East and other countries. It currently has robotaxi service licences in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen and is seeking to launch the services in Hong Kong.
免責聲明:投資有風險,本文並非投資建議,以上內容不應被視為任何金融產品的購買或出售要約、建議或邀請,作者或其他用戶的任何相關討論、評論或帖子也不應被視為此類內容。本文僅供一般參考,不考慮您的個人投資目標、財務狀況或需求。TTM對信息的準確性和完整性不承擔任何責任或保證,投資者應自行研究並在投資前尋求專業建議。