Pony AI Inc. has unveiled its next-generation autonomous driving domain controller, a high-performance computing system designed both for Pony.ai’s Level 4 (L4) autonomous driving platform and for a broader range of customer applications in autonomous mobility. Developed in collaboration with NVIDIA, this new controller is based on the NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion platform and is powered by NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor with NVIDIA NVLink. It will support the next phase of Pony.ai’s robotaxis commercialization as well as the growth of its domain controllers business. The new system is designed to deliver significant gains in AI computing performance and power efficiency, while supporting the latest AI models and meeting fundamental L4 requirements, such as multi-sensor fusion, perceiving full scenarios, and understanding complex situations.
It is also designed to enhance security redundancy, system robustness and deployment flexibility. Pony.ai anticipates that this new platform will support a portfolio spanning multiple compute tiers and cooling solutions, enabling deployment across a wide range of standalone applications. Through flexible single-chip or multi-chip configurations, the platform is expected to integrate NVIDIA NVLink to enable high-speed, low-latency communication between the two DRIVE Thor systems-on-chip (SoCs), achieving a combined peak computing performance of 4000 TFLOPS FP4.
This new platform builds on a long-standing collaboration between Pony.ai and NVIDIA, which began in 2017. In 2022, Pony.ai launched its in-house developed automotive-grade compute unit, powered by one or more NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin SoCs, deployed in its Robotaxis sixth generation. In 2025, the company launched mass production of the world’s first Robotaxi L4 domain controller equipped with four NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin SoCs.
This controller now powers Pony.ai’s seventh generation (Gen-7) Robotaxis and provides a solid foundation for feasible driverless operations at scale. As one of the few L4 autonomous driving companies in the world with full-stack in-house capabilities in both software and hardware, Pony.ai brings deep expertise in domain controller design. Its software-hardware co-design approach enables system-level optimization in terms of performance, security and cost.
Over the past year, Pony.ai has seen growing demand for its automotive-grade domain controllers in low-speed delivery, robotic cleaning, logistics, mining, autonomous shuttles, and other robotics and smart mobility applications. Shipments of its Fangzai domain controller in 2025 jumped more than 500% year-on-year. Its customers are spread across dozens of countries, including Germany, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Japan and Switzerland.
Building on Gen-7’s gains in profitability, safety and reliability, Pony.ai has also achieved key milestones in the commercialization of robotaxis, notably reaching the unit profitability threshold in two of China’s major metropolitan markets. The company aims to expand its robotaxis fleet to more than 3,000 vehicles and its geographic presence to more than 20 cities worldwide by the end of 2026.
