Toyota Motor Corp. is partnering with autonomous-driving company Pony.ai Inc. to co-develop autonomous driving systems.
Pony.ai, which has offices in both China and Silicon Valley, has been testing its robotaxi pilot service, PonyPilot, in China and secured a robotaxi operation permit in California in June.
The startup is backed by a number of investors including Sequoia Capital China, IDG Capital Partners, Legend Capital Management Co. Ltd., Morningside Venture Capital, ClearVue Partners and Eight Roads, the proprietary investment arm of Fidelity Investments, among others.
The partnership comes as Toyota aims to become a mobility company that is firmly rooted in China. According to the joint announcement, the carmaker will also seek to collaborate with select Chinese companies to support its plan.
In May, Japan Times reported that Toyota may share its self-driving technology with Didi Chuxing Technology Co. Ltd., Uber Technologies Inc.'s rival in China. Toyota pledged a $600 million investment in Didi in July.
