P

pony.ai

Full-stack autonomous driving platform licensing

Staff/Senior Staff Software Engineer - Perception

Full-TimeUpdated on 10/17/2026
$245k - $350k/yr+ Bonuses/Incentives + Restricted Stock Units
Senior
Master's, PhD
Fremont, CA, USA
In Person
AI & Machine LearningRobotics & Autonomous Systems

About the job

Requirements
  • A Master’s or PhD degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics, or a related field.
  • At least 5 years of experience deploying state-of-the-art computer vision or deep learning technologies to real-world applications.
  • Proficiency in programming languages such as C++ or Python.
  • Ability to execute effectively in a fast-paced environment.
  • Technical leadership abilities.
  • Interest in applying AI technologies to real-world applications.
Responsibilities
  • Develop and implement the next-generation perception system so autonomous systems can understand and navigate their environment precisely and reliably.
  • Work closely with the planner team to deliver the end-to-end AI-based autonomous driving system.
  • Advance innovative AI techniques to solve challenging real-world robotics problems deployed at large scale.
  • Manage a team of deep learning and software engineers and ensure each team member operates effectively and achieves their objectives.
  • Drive short-term and long-term technical vision in an evolving domain with ongoing research challenges, continually advancing autonomous driving capabilities.
  • Develop and maintain collaborative relationships across the company to leverage cross-functional expertise and advance autonomous systems.
Desired Qualifications
  • Strong track record in designing organizational structures and developing people.
  • Extensive experience in the autonomous driving industry.
  • Strong understanding of real-time systems and optimization techniques.
  • Hands-on experience deploying real products or platforms into real-world settings and understanding the challenges of complex systems.

About the company

P

pony.ai

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Pony.ai builds Level 4 autonomous driving systems as a full-stack, vehicle-agnostic Virtual Driver that combines its own software and hardware. Its main offerings span Robotaxi (via the PonyPilot app in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenzhen), Robotruck (autonomous freight and platooning), and licensing technology for Personally Owned Vehicles. The company earns revenue from ride-hailing services, freight logistics, and licensing fees through automaker partnerships with companies like Toyota, Sany, and Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor. Its goal is to scale Level 4 autonomy by expanding deployment of robotaxi and robotruck services, broadening licensing partnerships, and advancing automotive-grade hardware and software for mass production.

Company Size

501-1,000

Company Stage

IPO

Headquarters

Fremont, California

Founded

2016

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Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Q2 2026 revenue rose 68.8% to $36.2 million, led by robotaxi growth.
  • August 2026 Uber expansion targets over 2,000 robotaxis across five European cities.
  • September 2026 Zagreb and Doha pilots validate international commercialization before year-end 2026.

What critics are saying

  • Pony.ai burned $44 million operating cash in Q2 2026 against $1.39 billion liquidity.
  • Regulators control expansion; stalled approvals in Europe or China freeze fleet deployment timelines.
  • U.S.-China scrutiny on Chinese autonomous vehicles can block Uber partnerships and overseas scaling.

What makes pony.ai unique

  • Pony.ai runs fully driverless commercial robotaxis in China, Zagreb, and Doha by September 2026.
  • Its joint deployment model with Uber and Verne cuts capital intensity and speeds market entry.
  • Gen-4 Robotruck uses shared robotaxi technology, slashing hardware costs 70% before production.

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Benefits

  • Health Insurance
  • 401(k) Retirement Plan
  • 401(k) Company Match
  • Life Insurance
  • Paid Vacation
  • Parental Leave
  • Disability Insurance

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

0%

1 year growth

0%

2 year growth

0%
TechCrunch
Oct 8th, 2026
Uber and Pony.ai to launch robotaxis in London

Uber and Chinese autonomous vehicle company Pony.ai plan to launch a robotaxi service in London, expanding their partnership into Europe. The companies will begin testing Pony.ai's Gen-7 robotaxis in the city in the coming weeks. The announcement follows Uber's strategy of partnering with over 30 autonomous vehicle firms to capture market share in autonomous delivery and ride-hailing. Uber expects to offer autonomous vehicle trips in 15 cities globally by the end of 2026. Uber and Pony.ai first partnered in May 2025, initially focusing on the Middle East. They plan to deploy 2,000 robotaxis across Europe, starting with Zagreb, where they launched a service in August 2026 with partner Verne. Uber also plans a separate London robotaxi service with British startup Wayve.

Carba
Oct 8th, 2026
Pony.ai adds London to Uber robotaxi push in Europe.

Pony.ai adds London to Uber robotaxi push in Europe. Pony.ai said it is working with Uber to bring its seventh-generation robotaxis to London, with testing expected to start in the coming weeks, taking the partnership beyond Zagreb, where Pony.ai-powered cars are already bookable on the Uber app. "Pony.ai on Uber is coming to London," the Chinese autonomous driving company said in posts on X and LinkedIn on Thursday. "Testing is expected to start in the coming weeks, and we look forward to working with local and national government officials, and our partners, as plans progress to begin trials for self-driving vehicles under the UK's leading AV regulations," Pony.ai said on LinkedIn. The company did not disclose how many vehicles it will test, which company will operate them, when a commercial service could start or whether test rides will be offered to the public through Uber. Pony.ai described London as "another step" in its expanding global footprint "as we scale autonomous mobility in Europe." Crowded London market. Uber already offers autonomous rides in London with British startup Wayve, which began supervised rides on the Uber app on Sept. 3 using Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicles with a safety operator on board. Riders requesting UberX, Uber Electric or Uber Comfort can be matched with a Wayve vehicle at no extra cost, and approvals for fully driverless operation were still pending at launch. Baidu's Apollo Go began road testing in London on July 28 with Freenow by Lyft, with safety operators on board and public rides planned for 2027, subject to regulatory approval. Baidu also has a separate agreement to put its robotaxis on Uber's platform in markets outside the United States and mainland China. From Zagreb to 2,000 cars. Pony.ai and Uber first announced their partnership in May 2025, saying Pony.ai robotaxis would launch on the Uber app first in a key Middle East market later that year. That launch has not been announced, and the companies' latest joint statement, in August, still described the Middle East only as part of their plans. Pony.ai's commercial pilot in Doha, which began in December 2025 with safety operators on board, runs through the Karwa app of Qatar's national mobility provider Mowasalat, not Uber. Under that arrangement, Pony.ai supplies its Gen-7 autonomous driving system, Verne owns and operates the fleet, and Uber offers the service on its app alongside Verne's own. Verne launched paid robotaxi rides in Zagreb in April, using Pony.ai's system on the BAIC Arcfox Alpha T5 with a safety operator on board. In August, Pony.ai and Uber said they plan to deploy more than 2,000 Pony.ai robotaxis across Europe, expanding from Zagreb to four more cities that have not been named. "The next chapter for autonomous mobility is about moving from individual launches to repeatable commercial scale," said Sarfraz Maredia, Uber's Global Head of Autonomous Mobility & Delivery. The companies did not disclose financial terms, and said vehicle funding and ownership may differ by market, with local fleet partners handling day-to-day operations. Zagreb riders have been able to book the cars through Uber since August, when requesting UberX or Comfort, with a licensed operator behind the wheel. Pony.ai and Verne began fully driverless test rides with invited passengers on a 22-kilometre route between Verne's headquarters, a Zagreb business district and the city's airport on Sept. 10. By then, the Zagreb fleet had covered more than 200,000 kilometres and completed several thousand customer rides, according to the companies. Uber has since completed its planned investment in Verne. "I can confirm - yes Uber has invested in Verne," Verne CEO Marko Pejković wrote on LinkedIn, without disclosing the size of the stake. Pony.ai's numbers. Pony.ai's revenue rose 68.8% to $36.2 million in the second quarter, while robotaxi revenue jumped 691.2% to $12.1 million, and its net loss narrowed to $45.4 million. The company had 1,975 robotaxis at the end of June and said in May it aims to reach 3,500 vehicles and more than 20 cities worldwide by the end of 2026. It says its planned and potential deployments outside China exceed 4,000 vehicles, including the more than 2,000 under the Uber plan for Europe. Pony.ai says its Gen-7 system cut the bill of materials for its autonomous driving kit by 70% from the previous generation. In Shenzhen, each Gen-7 robotaxi averaged 338 yuan ($50) in daily net revenue and 23 orders a day in February, a level Pony.ai says puts the city's fleet at unit-economics breakeven. The Gen-7 cars in Zagreb use a Pony.ai domain controller built on Nvidia's DRIVE AGX platform. Pony.ai also works with other platforms, including a Luxembourg test programme with Bolt and Stellantis. Bloomberg reported in October 2025 that Uber planned to invest about $100 million in Pony.ai's Hong Kong listing, which neither company has confirmed. Uber's wider bet. Uber said on Aug. 5 that it had pledged more than $10 billion to expand its robotaxi network, mainly through equity investments in autonomous driving partners and support for fleet operations. At the time, Uber was offering autonomous rides in seven cities and said it expected to reach at least 15 by the end of 2026. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in February that Uber intends to be "the largest facilitator of AV trips in the world" by 2029.

WZUU
Sep 30th, 2026
Mercedes-backed Momenta targets Dubai and Europe for robotaxi expansion.

Mercedes-backed Momenta targets Dubai and Europe for robotaxi expansion. By Thomson Reuters Sep 30, 2026 | 3:12 AM By Qiaoyi Li and David Dolan Sept 30 (Reuters) - Chinese autonomous-driving company Momenta Global aims to have thousands of robotaxis on the road next year as it looks to expand to Dubai and more cities in Europe, the head of its robotaxi business told Reuters. Founded by a former Microsoft researcher and backed by Mercedes-Benz, Momenta counts Toyota, and BYD among its partners. It has two main businesses: advanced driver-assistance software, which it sells to automakers, and robotaxis, which are still in an early stage with more than 100 vehicles deployed in three countries. The company is testing its robotaxis in five Chinese cities, as well as in Munich and Abu Dhabi. Momenta has been in talks with a "few" European cities for further expansion and plans to deploy vehicles in Dubai next year, Shuo Xie, the head of its robotaxi business, said on Tuesday, adding that Japan was also a priority. "The size of our robotaxi fleet will be in the... hundreds at the end of this year and then it will be several thousand at the end of next year," she said in an online interview. Momenta competes with Alphabet's Waymo and China's Pony.ai, among others, in robotaxis. In July the company raised around $751 million in an initial public offering in Hong Kong. But its shares have fallen some 45% from the IPO price, hit in part by caution about the outlook for Hong Kong-listed AI shares. Momenta also remains unprofitable as it spends heavily on research and development. It has been working with chip company XHeart to produce chips designed specifically for its autonomous-driving software. The cost of such chips should be "significantly lower" than those of equivalent computing power from Nvidia, Xie said. XHeart is now working on a next-generation chip, the X9, she added. "In a couple of years the robotaxis that I am going to deploy around the world, hopefully a lot of them will be hosted on that X9 chip." (Reporting by Qiaoyi Li and David Dolan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

PR Newswire
Sep 14th, 2026
Pony.ai debuts Gen-4 autonomous truck with GAC, cutting costs by 70% ahead of production

Pony.ai has unveiled its new Level 4 autonomous heavy-duty truck developed with GAC Commercial Vehicle at IAA TRANSPORTATION 2026 in Hannover. The Gen-4 Robotruck is built on GAC's T9 battery-electric platform, with volume production scheduled to begin later this year for deployment in long-haul freight, dedicated-route logistics and port transportation. The vehicle features fully redundant systems for steering, braking, communications, power supply, computing and sensing. It includes nine lidars, three millimeter-wave radars and 13 cameras for 360-degree coverage. The autonomous driving kit's bill-of-materials cost has been reduced by 70% compared with the previous generation, whilst transportation costs per ton-kilometre are expected to fall by 30%. Pony.ai plans to expand its Robotruck business internationally, including entering European and Middle Eastern markets over the next two years.

ZAG Daily
Sep 10th, 2026
Zagreb robotaxis begin fully driverless passenger rides.

Zagreb robotaxis begin fully driverless passenger rides. Pony.ai and Verne have begun carrying passengers without an onboard safety operator on public roads in Zagreb, five months after launching Europe's first commercial robotaxi service. * 10 September 2026 Chinese autonomous driving company Pony.ai and Croatian operator Verne have started fully driverless passenger testing in Zagreb. Invited passengers can now ride without a human operator in the driver's seat along a 22-kilometre route connecting Verne's headquarters and a major business district with Zagreb's Franjo Tuđman Airport. The companies plan to extend the driverless operating area over the coming months. The tests come after Verne launched what the companies describe as Europe's first commercial robotaxi service in April. That service initially operated with an onboard autonomous vehicle operator. The latest phase is the next step in the partnership between Pony.ai, Verne and Uber. Pony.ai supplies the autonomous driving system, Verne manages the vehicles and service, while Uber provides access to passengers through its ride-hailing platform. "Fully driverless passenger rides in Zagreb mark an important step in Pony.ai's international growth," said Pony.ai Founder and CEO James Peng. Verne's service has covered more than 200,000 kilometres and completed several thousand passenger rides since April, the companies said, with an average passenger rating of 4.7 out of five. Uber has already begun offering the Zagreb service through its app, initially with a licensed operator monitoring from the driver's seat. The latest phase gives Pony.ai a European deployment where its autonomous driving technology, local fleet operations and ride-hailing access are already in place. The company has been using a similar partnership model in its overseas expansion, combining its autonomous driving technology with local operators and mobility platforms. In China, Pony.ai already runs fully driverless commercial services in four cities. It said its autonomous vehicles have travelled more than 100 million kilometres globally, including more than 40 million kilometres without a human driver. The company is targeting more than 3,500 robotaxis globally by the end of 2026. Its overseas deployment pipeline includes more than 4,000 vehicles, including plans announced with Uber to deploy more than 2,000 vehicles across Europe. Pony.ai said the new rides are being conducted under Croatian regulations and the approvals required for passenger-carrying autonomous vehicle testing on public roads. The companies have not said when fully driverless rides will become available to the general public.