Pony.ai

Autonomous Vehicles · Robotaxi · Mobility

Partnership

Pony.ai and FutureLink to deploy 200 robotaxis in Seoul by 2028

The tie-up tests whether a Chinese autonomous-driving system can clear Korean certification and public trust hurdles.

• FutureLink and Pony.ai signed a strategic cooperation agreement at Conrad Seoul on Aug. 28, agreeing to deploy 200 seventh-generation robotaxis in Seoul with a commercial launch targeted around 2028 and plans to later form a joint venture.
• Pony.ai, a Nasdaq-listed Chinese autonomous driving company founded in 2016, already runs fully driverless Level 4 robotaxi services in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
• Rollout starts with 10 vehicles for domestic certification, with the remaining 190 added once certification clears; the fleet will be built on BAIC Motor platforms with the autonomous system integrated at production rather than retrofitted.
• FutureLink, the autonomous driving arm of KOSDAQ-listed PonyLink, has already logged about 80,000 accident-free kilometers testing Pony.ai's kit on modified Hyundai Kona EVs in Seoul's Gangnam pilot zone.
• In Shenzhen, Pony.ai's robotaxis averaged about 23 paid orders per vehicle per day in February, a utilization figure the partners are citing as evidence the model can scale commercially.
• FutureLink said data collected in South Korea will not be sent abroad, an attempt to preempt scrutiny over a Chinese firm operating autonomous fleets on domestic streets.
• CEO James Peng said Pony.ai also plans to deploy more than 4,000 robotaxis across Europe and the Middle East, positioning the Seoul deal as one piece of a broader global expansion push.
• The deal signals Chinese autonomous-driving exporters are moving from domestic scale to contested foreign markets, where local certification and data-sovereignty concerns—not just technology—will decide market access.