Pony.ai Wins First Citywide Driverless Robotaxi Permit in Shenzhen

• Pony.ai and Xihu Group can now run fully driverless robotaxis across all of Shenzhen.
• The rollout will start with Gen-7 vehicles in three districts and scale citywide under a shared operations model.

Pony.ai has received Shenzhen’s first citywide permit to operate fully driverless commercial robotaxis. The permit was issued jointly to Pony.ai and Xihu Group, the city’s largest taxi company, and allows them to run robotaxi services without safety drivers across every district in Shenzhen.

Operations will start in Shenzhen’s Nanshan, Qianhai, and Baoan districts before expanding across the entire city. Covering nearly 2,000 square kilometers and home to 17.8 million people, Shenzhen is one of China’s largest and most densely populated cities. The service will see Pony.ai supplying the technology and vehicles, and Xihu Group managing daily operations and service delivery.

Pony.ai and Xihu partnered in June 2025 and plan to deploy more than 1,000 of Pony.ai’s Gen-7 robotaxis over the next few years. Pony.ai already runs over 720 robotaxis and expects to hit 1,000 by the end of this year. It’s now the only company allowed to operate fully driverless commercial robotaxi services in all four of China’s Tier-1 cities, which include Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

🌀 Tom’s Take:

Pony.ai’s deal with Xihu shows how autonomy can ride in on existing infrastructure and can be an unlock for scaling driverless services.

Source: PR Newswire / Pony.ai