By Li Panpan

(JW Insights) Aug 7 -- Pony.ai, a leading Chinese autonomous driving company, will form a joint venture this year with Toyota China and GAC Toyota to support the future mass production and large-scale deployment of self-driving taxis (Robotaxi). The three parties held a signing ceremony for the project on August 4.

The joint venture company will have an estimated investment of more than RMB 1 billion (about $139.2 million). GAC Toyota will provide Pony.ai with Toyota-branded battery electric vehicles, which are equipped with Toyota's vehicle redundant systems that are suitable for fully autonomous driving development. The vehicles will be equipped with Pony.ai's advanced autonomous driving technology and run on Pony.ai's robotaxi network platform, PonyPilot+. Theit joint efforts aim at deliver safe and convenient robotaxi services for riders.

The joint venture will deepen the long-time collaboration between Pony.ai and Toyota. In August 2019, Pony.ai and Toyota announced they would jointly advance the development of autonomous vehicles in China.

Founded in 2016 in Silicon Valley and headquartered in Guangzhou, southern China's Guangdong Province, Pony.ai has quickly become a global leader in autonomous mobility and is a pioneer in extending autonomous mobility technologies and services at a rapidly expanding footprint of sites around the world, said its website.