All testing has been suspended as a result.
Pony.ai, one of the autonomous technology firms testing in California with Cruise, Nuro, Waymo and others, had is driving priveleges suspended in California this week after an October 28 accident that harmed a road center divider and a traffic sign in Fremont, California. The incident was filed with the California DMW and no injuries or other cars were involved.
We'll start by saying accidents happen. In fact, over 5 million accidents happen every year, which breaks down to about 15,000 accidents a day. We're betting most of those vehicles had drivers.
“On Nov. 19, the DMV notified Pony.ai that the department is suspending its driverless testing permit, effective immediately, following a reported solo collision in Fremont, California, on Oct. 28,” the DMV said in a statement.
Pony.ai currently has 10 Hyundai Kona EVs registered under the special driverless testing permit, though that’s only a fraction of the cars it’s currently evaluating. Pony’s fleet, according to its website, includes the Lincoln MKZ, Lexus RX 450 and a couple others from BYD and Aion. It also recently started testing autonomous semi trucks and has real running prototype robotaxies in China. We haven't heard a ton about this company, but it looks to be on its game.
“We immediately launched an investigation, and are in contact with the California DMV about the incident,” a Pony.ai spokesman said, before adding that safety is a foundation of the company’s autonomous technology.
Earlier this year Pony.ai decided to hold off on joining the New York Stock Exchange, saying that it couldn’t “gain assurances from China that it would not become a target of increased regulatory action over the management of user data.” But we could see that happening next year.
Overall, Pony is saying all the right things. It’s system uses hypersensitive maps and location data, and uses deep learning to adjust to new situations. It has a prediction agent that “works to project how other vehicles, pedestrians, and objects may move or behave based on several inputs, including Perception output, raw sensor data, and data regarding previous decisions made by the road agent.” It also notes all of its systems feature hardware redundancy. We’re guessing this is just a little hiccup on Pony’s road to autonomy, and that we’ll be hearing more from the company soon.
Keyword: Another Autonomous Startup Had An Accident In California