The official photo of the Luxembourg delegation led by foreign minister Xavier Bettel (DP) and economy minister Lex Delles (DP) at the signing of the memorandum of understanding in March 2024. This has led to the incorporation of the company’s subsidiary in Luxembourg. Photo: Pony.AI

The official photo of the Luxembourg delegation led by foreign minister Xavier Bettel (DP) and economy minister Lex Delles (DP) at the signing of the memorandum of understanding in March 2024. This has led to the incorporation of the company’s subsidiary in Luxembourg. Photo: Pony.AI

Announced in March, the American company Pony.AI, a specialist in autonomous transport, has established its European office at the Belval Technoport in Luxembourg.

“The intelligent mobility sector is one of our priorities with regard to the diversification of Luxembourg’s economy. Our aim is to make the grand duchy a pioneer in the field of autonomous driving on a European scale,” economy minister  (DP) said on 7 March 2024 during a visit to Fremont, California with foreign minister (DP), and during which he announced the imminent arrival of Pony.AI in Luxembourg. “As such, I am very pleased with the signature of an MOU with Pony.AI, a leader in autonomous mobility technologies and services. This is an important opportunity to promote the technical expertise of the smart mobility sector in Luxembourg.”

Six months later, the Americans have indeed registered a subsidiary, Pony.AI Europe, in the commercial register. They will be setting off from... Belval Technoport.

“We aim to bring to this partnership our cutting-edge AV technology, comprehensive training programmes, and a commitment to establish a regional hub in Luxembourg as we continue our global expansion,” Pony.AI’s co-founder and CEO James Peng commented during the March visit.

Founded in late 2016, Pony.AI has pioneered autonomous mobility technologies and services around the world. The startup has formed partnerships with leading equipment manufacturers, including Toyota, SAIC, SANY, FAW Group and GAC Group. To date, Pony.ai has completed more than 35m kilometres of autonomous tests and operations on open roads around the world, including five without drivers.

All that remains for Luxembourg is to make it possible for autonomous vehicles to be present on the roads. There are already a few examples of this in specific contexts. In addition to the United States, China is paving the way for this new generation of technologies. In May, Pony.AI obtained the first licence for intelligent connected vehicles (ICV) on motorways there for two models, a Toyota Sienna equipped with Pony.AI’s sixth-generation passenger vehicle system and the SANY heavy truck equipped with the company’s third-generation autonomous truck system in Guangzhou, just next to Shenzhen and Hong Kong. In Wuhan, in central China, more than 500 driverless cars are already on the road, covering 3,000 km2 (compared with 315 square miles, or 816 km2, in Arizona for Waymo). Tests are under way in Beijing and Shanghai.

This article was originally published in .

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