Pony.ai self-driving cars run along a road during a trial run on February 1, 2018 in Guangzhou, China.
VCG | Visual China Group | Getty Images
GUANGZHOU, China — Chinese driverless car startup Pony.ai has raised another round of funding, bringing its valuation to $5.3 billion, the company said on Friday.
A fund run by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board led the $267 million investment which also involved existing investors. Pony.ai says it has raised a total of $1 billion to date.
Pony.ai is a competitor to the likes of Waymo, the self-driving car subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet. Pony.ai makes and sells the technology required for driverless cars and partners with automakers to do so.
“With new investments that support our growth and deepened partnerships with our existing investors, we are quickly advancing toward future mobility and bringing autonomous vehicle technology to the global market,” James Peng, CEO of Pony.ai, said in a press release.
The company, which has headquarters in California and the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, has been testing autonomous cars on the roads. However, a person is still required behind the wheel due to regulations.
