GUANGZHOU -- Autonomous driving company Pony.ai, in collaboration with Toyota Motor (China) Investment (TMCI) and GAC Toyota Motor (GTMC), held a joint venture signing ceremony in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province on Friday.

The three parties announced the formation of a joint venture aimed at advancing the future mass production and large-scale deployment of fully driverless robotaxis. The new venture is expected to be established within the year, with an estimated investment of over 1 billion yuan (about $140 million).

As part of the partnership, GTMC will supply Pony.ai with Toyota-branded battery electric vehicles equipped with Toyota's vehicle redundant systems, specifically designed for L4 autonomous driving development, as stated by Pony.ai.

These vehicles will integrate Pony.ai's autonomous driving technology and operate on Pony.ai's robotaxi services platform, PonyPilot+. The collaborative efforts will deliver robotaxi services to riders.

According to Pony.ai, it operates around 200 Toyota and Lexus brand robotaxis in cities including Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen for road tests and public-facing robotaxi operations.