China’s Pony AI plans to triple global robotaxi fleet by the end of 2026

Chinese autonomous vehicle technology company Pony.ai said Tuesday it plans to triple the size of its robotaxi fleet by the end of next year as its pace of growth — and aspirations — accelerates. The company, which has about 961 robotaxis in the fleet today, announced the goal during its third-quarter earnings. Pony.ai is targeting a 1,000-robotaxi vehicle fleet by the end of this year. Its goal is to “surpass” 3,000 vehicles by the end of 2026,the company saidin its third-quarter earnings report. Pony.ai, which is publicly traded on theNasdaq Exchange and Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, has spent the year ramping up its commercial operations. Today, the company offers commercial robotaxi services — meaning it charges for these rides — in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. The company also has aspirations to scale beyond the borders of China. Pony.ai is pushing into eight countries, including Qatar and Singapore, through partnerships with local companies as well as ride-hailing companies Bolt and Uber. The ramp-up in robotaxi services has had the dual effect of increasing revenue along with costs. The company reported revenue of $25.4 million in the third quarter, a 72% increase from the $14.8 million it generated in the same year-ago period. Shares of Pony.ai popped on the Nasdaq more than 6% following its earnings report. Pony.ai said the rise in revenue was driven by robotaxi services and licensing its technology to other companies. The Guangzhou, China-based company brought in $6.7 million in revenue from robotaxi services, $10.2 million from its self-driving trucks called robotrucks, and $8.6 million in licensing and application fees. The company’s expenses are still outpacing revenue. Pony.ai reported a net loss of $61.6 million in the third quarter, a 46% increase since the same period in 2024. Pony.ai had $587.7 million in cash and cash equivalents, and short-term investments as of September 30, an amount that has decreased from $747.7 million in the second quarter of the year. Pony.ai said half of that decrease was from a one-off cash outflow that included investment into its joint venture with Toyota to support the production and deployment of its Gen-7 vehicle. Topics Transportation Editor StrictlyVC concludes its 2025 series with an exclusive event featuring insights from leading VCs and builders such as Pat Gelsinger, Mina Fahmi, and more. Plus, opportunities to forge meaningful connections. Anduril’s autonomous weapons stumble in tests and combat, WSJ reports This Thanksgiving’s real drama may be Michael Burry versus Nvidia The future will be explained to you in Palo Alto Why ‘hold forever’ investors are snapping up venture capital ‘zombies’ Altman describes OpenAI’s forthcoming AI device as more peaceful and calm than the iPhone OpenAI learned the hard way that Cameo trademarked the word ‘cameo’ US banks scramble to assess data theft after hackers breach financial tech firm