Update: Adjusted the headline to be more accurate.

Pony.ai has received a license to operate 100 Robotaxis as traditional cabs in Nansha district, Guangzhou city, Guangdong province.

The Robotaxis will operate during the day and night, with service hours from 8:30 to 22:30, and fares based on standard cab pricing in Guangzhou. Passengers can hail and pay for the service through the PonyPilot+ app.

Pony.ai's Robotaxi currently retains a safety driver, but the company expects to eliminate that driver in the short to medium term.

This marks the official implementation of a self-driving mobility service similar to the traditional cab and ride-hailing platforms by the Guangzhou municipal government.

Pony.ai received a Robotaxi fee-charging permit in Beijing in November 2021, and the latest development made it the only company in two of China's top-tier cities to be approved for a self-driving commercial service.

Pony.ai currently has self-driving vehicles testing and operating in all four Tier 1 cities in China and California.

With the successful commercialization in Beijing and Guangzhou, Pony.ai plans to expand its commercialized Robotaxi footprint to two other Tier 1 cities in China next year and to additional cities ahead of Pony.ai's planned large-scale commercialization beginning in 2024/2025.

In order to obtain a license, Pony.ai must pass tests specified by national inspection agencies, such as at least 24 months of self-driving tests in China or other countries, at least 1 million kilometers of testing, at least 200,000 kilometers of self-driving tests in a designated test area in Guangzhou, and not be involved in any active liability traffic accidents.

Pony.ai launched Pony.ai's Robotaxi app in December 2018, and as of mid-April 2022, its Robotaxi service had completed more than 700,000 orders, it said.

Founded in late 2016, Pony.ai has set up R&D centers in Silicon Valley, Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai, and is running Robotaxi operations locally.

In late 2019, Nio Capital, said it invested in Pony.ai when it announced the completion of a more than $200 million fundraising for an undisclosed amount.

In February 2020, Pony.ai announced it had raised $400 million from Toyota.

On February 8 of last year, Pony.ai announced the closing of a Series C funding round totaling $367 million.

On March 7 of this year, Pony.ai announced that it closed the first delivery of its Series D funding round, bringing the valuation to $8.5 billion, an increase of about 65 percent from the previous round.