California Suspends Pony.ai Autonomous Vehicle Testing After Crash
Following a crash in October 2021 while operating in autonomous mode, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) suspended the driverless testing permit for Pony.ai vehicles. This is the first time the state of California has suspended such a permit.
The crash happened at 10:50 a.m. on October 28 . The self-driving car was testing on roads in Fremont, California, where Pony.ai's U.S. headquarters is located. The full incident report can be read on the department's website.
Brief description of the crash: "On October 28, 2021, after turning right onto Fremont Boulevard from Cushing Parkway, a Pony.ai autonomous vehicle ("Pony.ai AV") performed a left-lane maneuver in autonomous mode. While changing lanes, the Pony.ai AV struck a center median on Fremont Boulevard and a road sign placed on the divider. The Pony.ai AV sustained moderate damage to its front end and undercarriage. No people or other vehicles were injured. The Fremont Police Department was called to report the incident and the damaged street sign. Pony.ai subsequently worked with local authorities to resolve all issues related to the damaged sign."
Many other accidents involving autonomous vehicles have been reported. But this incident is notable because the car was operating in autonomous mode and did not involve any other vehicles.
On December 13, 2021, The Robot Report asked the CA DMV and Pony.ai for more information about the process for reinstating the permit. Neither organization responded, but Reuters received the following statement from the DMV: "On November 19, the DMV notified Pony.ai that the department is immediately suspending the driverless testing permit following the report of a single-vehicle collision in Fremont, California on October 28."
"We immediately began an investigation and are in contact with the California DMV regarding the incident," a Pony.ai representative said in a comment to the publication. According to the representative, safety is the "foundation" of autonomous vehicle technology.
The company said that most autonomous driving tests involved safety drivers, and this will continue in the near future.
Six months ago, Pony.ai became the eighth company to receive a driverless testing permit in California. Other companies include Apollo, AutoX, Cruise, Nuro, Waymo, WeRide and Zoox. Cruise, Nuro and Waymo are the only companies with permits to operate autonomous vehicles commercially. Cruise and Waymo are developing robotaxis for passenger transport, while Nuro is developing an autonomous delivery vehicle.
Pony.ai has 10 Hyundai Kona electric vehicles registered under the driverless testing permit. According to the CA DMV, the suspension does not affect Pony.ai's permit for testing with a human safety driver.
Pony.ai is a startup operating in China and the U.S. Most of its operations, including autonomous trucking, are conducted in China. The startup had hoped to go public in the U.S. by merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), which could have brought in an additional $1.2 billion in financing.
However, in August 2021, Pony.ai put those plans with VectoIQ on hold. According to Reuters, the deal fell apart after Pony.ai "failed to get assurances from Beijing that it would not become a target of repression against Chinese tech companies."
Recently, Pony.ai lost at least three key executives as a result of merging its autonomous car and truck R&D teams. Zhenhao Pan was technical director of Pony's trucking business, Yuhan Sun oversaw planning and control for Pony's U.S. trucking business, and Sun Haowen was head of autonomous driving planning and control for Pony in China.
The city of Shenzhen granted Pony.ai a license to conduct autonomous driving tests on the city's open roads. A 20 km² pilot zone in Beijing covers major subway stations, residential areas and tech parks. Pony.ai said that with the addition of Shenzhen, it now conducts autonomous driving tests or autonomous services in seven Chinese cities.
On November 25, 2021, the startup announced it had received a permit to launch paid robotaxi services in southeastern Beijing. Beijing, the capital of China, became the first Tier-1 Chinese city to approve the commercialization of robotaxis, allowing autonomous transport companies to charge fees for their services.
"We are developing safe and reliable autonomous driving technology around the world. Having accumulated millions of kilometers of autonomous road testing in complex scenarios, we have laid a solid foundation for large-scale deployment of autonomous driving systems," the company said.
Pony.ai has launched autonomous mobility pilots in many cities in the U.S. and China, serving hundreds of riders daily. These pilot projects have created a solid technical and operational foundation for further expansion and service improvements.
