Chinese self-driving company Pony.ai announced Wednesday the launch of its Robotaxi service in Shanghai, covering a major urban section of the Jiading district in the northwest of the city.

The announcement was made on July 7 at the 2021 Shanghai World Artificial Intelligence Conference, where Pony.ai showcased its latest self-developed self-driving technology.

Users will have the opportunity to experience this emerging mobility option in Jiading by applying for an invitation code through the PonyPilot+ App.

Shanghai is the third Robotaxi city that Pony.ai has opened in China, with Robotaxi having first upgraded its service in Guangzhou and Beijing in April this year.

The vehicles put into service are Lexus RX models equipped with the latest self-driving system.

Pony.ai's self-driving trucks have been conducting road tests for more than 200 days, according to Li Hengyu, vice president of the company.

Li said its trucking business was granted a road transportation license on May 11 this year and has officially launched commercial operations. So far, Pony.ai self-driving trucks have completed about 13,650 tons of freight transportation, with a commercial operation mileage of 37,466 kilometers.

Facing the huge driver gap in the logistics industry, the core value of self-driving trucks is to liberate manpower.

In addition to the latest generation of self-driving passenger cars and trucks, Iris, a high-performance long-range lidar produced by Luminar, a lidar company that recently partnered with Pony.ai, was also on display to the public at the booth.

Pony.ai plans to mass-produce a vehicle-grade autonomous driving system in 2023, which will use the Iris lidar.

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