On Nov 2, BAIC and Pony.ai signed an agreement on cooperation of L4 autonomous driving vehicle development technology to build a fleet of several thousand autonomous driving service vehicles in Beijing over the next three years.

The signing ceremony of BAIC and Pony.ai

With the signing of this cooperation agreement, BAIC and Pony.ai will aim for Robotaxi, an autonomous driving service, to jointly advance the large-scale deployment of Robotaxi production models.

Both sides will collaborate on the research and development of fully autonomous Robotaxi models based on the ARCFOX Alpha T5 model and Pony.ai's seventh-generation autonomous driving software and hardware system solution.

At present, the two companies have launched a technological campaign focusing on the development of autonomous driving vehicle standard kits, vehicle production, chassis redundant safety design, and cabin experience innovation. They plan to complete and launch the first batch of ARCFOX Alpha T5 Robotaxi models in 2025.

Going forward, BAIC and Pony.ai will jointly promote the sustained development of high-level autonomous driving demonstration operations in Beijing. Over the next three years, the two companies are expected to establish a fleet of several thousand unmanned autonomous driving service vehicles in Beijing. This initiative will help Beijing become the largest and most extensive high-level autonomous driving demonstration zone domestically and even globally, serving the largest number of people over the longest service mileage.

As of now, Beijing E-Town has attracted over 120 intelligent connected vehicle enterprises, having preliminarily formed an innovative ecosystem in the intelligent connected vehicle industry led by flagship vehicle manufacturers and dominated by innovative enterprises. The industry chain covers various segments including vehicles, roads, cloud services, networks, mapping, data, and automotive chips.

By the end of the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), the Beijing E-Town automotive industry cluster aims to break through a scale of 400 billion yuan ($56.37 billion), establishing an industrial ecosystem that integrates new energy intelligent connected vehicle manufacturing, mobility services, smart transportation, and the mutual promotion of future urban integration.