PonyAI "Scheduled to be Listed on the U.S. Stock Market by the End of September"

Pony.ai, a global big tech company preparing for autonomous driving business in Korea along with PonyLink, announced on the 6th that it plans to go public through an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States by the end of September. According to Chinese media, the company is valued at up to $8.5 billion (approximately 11.6 trillion KRW).

Pony.ai had considered a U.S. IPO in 2021 but postponed the plan due to increased scrutiny by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Chinese companies.

The main challenge for Pony.ai is not the listing process itself but setting a market value that meets the expectations of the founding team, early investors, and secondary market investors, and it is reported that commitments have already been received from institutional investors.

Founded in the U.S. in 2016, Pony.ai established R&D centers in Silicon Valley, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. After obtaining autonomous driving testing and operation permits in various regions of China and the U.S., it currently operates about 300 robo-taxis based on the Lexus RX450h and Toyota Sienna models, providing autonomous mobility services through the Pony.ai platform in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Shanghai.

At the end of April, Pony.ai, Toyota Sienna, and GAC Toyota established a joint venture called Zhuifeng Intelligent Tech (Guangzhou) Co. with an investment exceeding 1 billion yuan. The joint venture aims to expand the production and deployment of Level 4 robo-taxis and plans to deploy 1,000 bZ4X robo-taxis in first-tier cities across China to accelerate the commercial operation of robo-taxis.

On June 26, James Peng, CEO of Pony.ai, announced at the MOVE event held in London that the company will establish an R&D center in Luxembourg to enter the European market.

A PonyLink official stated, “Pony.ai, which possesses Level 4 autonomous driving technology and has already been validated in China operating autonomous mobility, will do its best to successfully complete the U.S. securities market listing in September. We will focus on creating an environment where mobility services provided in the U.S. and China can expand to a wide range of regions, contributing to customer convenience and industry development.”

Meanwhile, this year has seen notable movements toward IPOs in the autonomous driving industry, with many companies engaged in autonomous driving businesses, including Pony.ai, planning to list in the U.S.