Gasgoo Munich- On May 26, autonomous driving company Pony.ai released its unaudited financial results for the first quarter of 2026, reporting record quarterly revenue from its Robotaxi business. Following the strong start to the year, the company raised its 2026 Robotaxi targets, now expecting annual Robotaxi revenue to exceed 3.5 times its 2025 level, up from an earlier projection of threefold growth. Pony.ai also increased its planned Robotaxi fleet size from 3,000 vehicles to more than 3,500 vehicles operating across over 20 cities in China and overseas.Image source: Pony.aiDuring the first quarter, Pony.ai generated total revenue of 236 million yuan, representing a 145% year-on-year increase and a 17.6% rise from the previous quarter. Gross profit reached RMB 38.36 million, up 140.1% from a year earlier. The growth was primarily driven by rapid expansion in the Robotaxi segment alongside strong momentum in the company's intelligent solutions business, formerly known as its technology licensing and applications division.Pony.ai also reported continued improvements in operational efficiency. Operating losses during the quarter remained broadly stable year-on-year while narrowing by 21% compared with the previous quarter. As of March 31, the company held 9.902 billion yuan (approximately $1.436 billion) in cash equivalents and short- and long-term investments, providing a substantial liquidity reserve to support future expansion.The company said its Robotaxi operation entered a rapid growth phase after achieving positive unit economics on a per-vehicle basis at the city level. Robotaxi revenue reached 59.12 million yuan in the first quarter, surging 395.4% year-on-year and rising 28.7% from the prior quarter. The quarterly figure already exceeded half of the 116 million yuan in Robotaxi revenue recorded for the entirety of 2025. Passenger fare revenue climbed 456.5% year-on-year, emerging as the primary growth driver. By May 2026, Pony.ai's number of registered Robotaxi users in China had more than tripled from the same period last year.Pony.ai said key commercialization metrics—including fleet size, user scale, and paid ride volume—have all recorded month-by-month growth since the beginning of the year. Despite softer seasonal travel demand during the Lunar New Year holiday period and the traditionally weaker first quarter, the Robotaxi business maintained strong momentum. According to the earnings report, the trend continued into the second quarter. Average weekly paid Robotaxi orders in May increased 119% compared with January levels, while average daily paid orders during the Labor Day holiday surged 544% year-on-year.At the same time, Pony.ai said it has continued lowering daily operating costs by improving charging efficiency and refining dispatch algorithms, while also enhancing service reliability and user experience.The rapid growth of Pony.ai's Robotaxi operation has been supported by simultaneous fleet expansion and broader geographic deployment. As of May 24, the company's Robotaxi fleet had surpassed 1,700 vehicles. This year, the newly added Toyota Bozhi 4X Robotaxi model entered fully driverless testing and is scheduled for deployment in several major Chinese cities later this year. During the Auto China 2026, Pony.ai also stated that by 2027 it aims to reduce the total manufacturing cost of a Robotaxi vehicle—including the vehicle itself, battery system, and autonomous driving hardware suite—to below 230,000 yuan, a target viewed as critical for large-scale commercialization.In China, Pony.ai expanded its Robotaxi operations into central Guangzhou during the first quarter, extending service coverage to major landmarks including Canton Tower and the Canton Fair Complex. Overseas development has also accelerated. The company launched what it described as Europe's first commercial Robotaxi service in Zagreb, Croatia, and initiated driverless testing in Dubai. Pony.ai's Robotaxi business now spans nine countries globally, with public-facing ride services already available in China, Croatia, Qatar, Singapore, and South Korea.Other business lines also delivered strong growth. Pony.ai's Robotruck division generated 70.33 million yuan in first-quarter revenue, up 31% year-on-year. In April, the company announced plans to build an integrated autonomous freight network covering both long-haul logistics and urban delivery scenarios. Its fourth-generation battery-electric heavy truck is scheduled to enter mass production in the second half of this year. Pony.ai also unveiled its first fully automotive-grade, fully redundant autonomous light-duty truck at the Auto China 2026. Leveraging the same technology stack, operational framework, and automotive-grade hardware architecture used in its Robotaxi platform, the vehicle is expected to reduce urban freight delivery costs per kilometer by 40% to 50% compared with human-driven operations.The intelligent solutions segment posted first-quarter revenue of 107 million yuan, representing a 246.5% year-on-year increase. Shipments of autonomous driving domain controllers expanded to more than six times the level recorded a year earlier, supported by strong demand from low-speed autonomous delivery vehicles, robotic street-cleaning systems, logistics applications, and humanoid robotics.
