China’s GAC Group said on Oct. 10 it planned to invest $27 million in self-driving car startup Pony.ai through its wholly-owned subsidiary GAC Capital, a move expected to “create synergies” between the two companies and speed up the development of GAC’s automated driving functions. The investment marks the latest bet by a Chinese automaker to boost their autonomous driving capacity in the hope of catching up with Tesla, which on the same day said it aims to produce its driverless taxi, the Cybercab, in 2026.
GAC and Pony.ai first forged a partnership in 2018, TechNode reported, followed by Pony’s undisclosed investment in GAC’ ride-hailing platform OnTime in April 2022, when the two companies said they would together operate an autonomous ride-hailing fleet. Meanwhile, Pony.ai has been backed by a Toyota investment worth $400 million since 2020, and the two companies, along with GAC, a manufacturing partner of Toyota in China, announced a RMB 1 billion ($139 million) joint venture to make robocars last August.
State-owned GAC has also been a strategic investor in WeRide since late 2021, a self-driving car company with regional headquarters in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. Both WeRide and Pony.ai are looking to sell shares in the US and have obtained approval for overseas listings from Chinese regulators. Pony.ai said on Monday its autonomous ride-hailing vehicles have traveled a total of 40 million kilometers (25 million miles), of which around 4 million km were entirely driverless.
More Chinese automakers are following Tesla’s lead with their robocars. Xpeng Motors’ new model for autonomous ride-hailing services is expected to enter production in 2026, chief executive He Xiaopeng posted on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo on Oct. 10. On the same day, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company’s long-awaited robotaxi, with two gull-wing doors and no steering wheel or pedals, will eventually cost less than $30,000, Reuters reported.
READ MORE: The Chinese startup battling for robotaxi supremacy
