Q2 Robotaxi Revenue Soars as Pony.ai and WeRide Enter Critical Turning Point for Commercialization

On August 11, autonomous driving company Pony.ai (NASDAQ: PONY) released its unaudited financial report for the second quarter of 2025. According to the financial report, the company's total revenue for the second quarter increased by 75.9% year-on-year to 154 million yuan. Previously, WeRide also released its financial report for the second quarter of 2025, with second-quarter revenue of 127 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 60.8%.

Reporters from China Times have noticed that while total revenues have seen significant increases, the Robotaxi businesses of Pony.ai and WeRide have also entered a period of explosive revenue growth: Pony.ai's Robotaxi business revenue surged by 157.8% year-on-year, while WeRide's revenue soared by 836.7% year-on-year, setting a new historical high.

However, despite significant increases in revenue and gross profit margin, and the accelerated implementation of commercial layouts, both companies have yet to move out of the red. Nevertheless, the path toward scaled operations and cost optimization has become increasingly clear, and autonomous driving mobility services are now entering a critical turning point in their journey toward commercialization.

Revenue and gross profit margin increased significantly

Pony.ai's total revenue for the second quarter reached 154 million yuan, marking a year-on-year increase of 75.9% and a quarter-on-quarter growth of 53.5%. It is worth noting that Pony.ai's gross margin for the second quarter reached 16.1%, compared to -0.3% in the second quarter of 2024, showing significant growth.

In this regard, Pony.ai CFO Wang Haojun stated that the company’s strong performance growth demonstrates a scalable and sustainably profitable business model. By optimizing the remote operation ratio of “personnel to vehicles” and reducing vehicle insurance costs, the unit economics (UE) of Robotaxi have improved significantly.

Pony.ai's executive analysis indicates that this growth is attributed to the expansion of user coverage, the rising demand from users in first-tier cities, and the increase in the scale of Robotaxi operating vehicles. Currently, Pony.ai is the only company in China providing fully driverless Robotaxi paid services in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, operating across a total area of over 2,000 square kilometers in first-tier cities.

An important factor contributing to Pony.ai’s total revenue growth in the second quarter of 2025 is the increase in Robotaxi revenue. According to the financial report, Pony.ai’s Robotaxi business generated revenue of 10.9 million RMB in the second quarter, representing a year-on-year increase of 157.8%. Among this, fare revenue from passengers grew by over 300% year-on-year. The significant growth in Robotaxi business revenue demonstrates that the company has made substantial progress in the commercialization of its Robotaxi operations, with technological investment gradually translating into market returns.

Earlier, WeRide released even more impressive financial data: the revenue from the Robotaxi business in the second quarter was 45.9 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 836.7%, significantly raising its proportion of total revenue for the quarter to 36.1%. A relevant official from WeRide told the reporter from China Times, "This achievement marks the highest single-quarter record for WeRide since 2021." In fact, such rapid growth precisely reflects the market's rapidly increasing acceptance of autonomous driving travel services.

Behind this growth trend is the continuous iteration of technology and the ongoing expansion of operational scale. In terms of global deployment, Pony.ai has entered into a strategic partnership with the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority to conduct the first batch of Robotaxi road tests by 2025 and achieve fully unmanned commercial operations by 2026. In Europe, Pony.ai has started testing in Lenningen, Luxembourg, and plans to expand to more regions. In Asia, Pony.ai has obtained a national-level autonomous driving test permit issued by South Korea, and since April, testing in Seoul's Gangnam district has been extended to 24/7 testing, allowing them to skillfully handle the country's busiest and most complex urban road conditions.

Coincidentally, WeRide has signed a cooperation agreement with Uber and the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority to deploy commercial Robotaxi services in Dubai. WeRide is also the only technology company in the world whose products hold autonomous driving licenses in six countries, including China, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, France, and Saudi Arabia.

Achieving a break-even point takes time.

While multiple performance indicators have shown growth, both Pony.ai and WeRide have yet to achieve profitability. According to the financial reports, Pony.ai recorded a net loss of 382 million yuan in the second quarter, an increase of 72.49% year-on-year; WeRide reported a net loss of 406 million yuan, which has narrowed compared to a net loss of 414 million yuan in the same period last year.

According to Pony.ai CFO Lawrence Wong during the earnings call, the main reason for the increased losses is the rise in investment and R&D expenses related to the mass production project of the seventh-generation Robotaxi.

A relevant person in charge at Pony.ai also told Huaxia Times, "Since we are currently in a critical development stage of technological iteration and large-scale deployment, we have proactively increased strategic investments." The increase in R&D expenses has led to a short-term rise in operational costs, but in the long run, this is key to shaping our L4 technology moat and will bring sustained benefits to the company.

According to the financial report, in the second quarter of 2025, Pony.ai’s adjusted R&D expenses amounted to 316 million RMB, accelerating the production and commercial deployment of its seventh-generation Robotaxi in areas such as production lines, materials, and personnel development. Haojun Wang stated, "With the accelerated mass production and deployment of the seventh-generation model, the company is now entering a phase of comprehensive acceleration in commercialization."

Losses, followed by the pursuit of a breakeven point, is an important challenge faced collectively by all autonomous driving companies. Whether it's Pony.ai, WeRide, Horizon Robotics, or other companies, time is needed.

Just like the earlier wave of new car-making forces, it was only after nearly a decade of accumulation that they began to see results: Li Auto achieved annual profitability, Leapmotor is expected to break even in the second quarter, and XPeng Motors and NIO are also moving towards the goal of achieving profitability in the fourth quarter.

A representative from Pony.ai told a reporter from China Times, "We previously mentioned that 1,000 vehicles is the break-even point for single-vehicle operations, so our first step now is to achieve these 1,000 vehicles before we can move to the next step."

Pony.ai founder and CEO James Peng stated at the financial results conference, "We are very confident in achieving the goal of deploying 1,000 Robotaxis by the end of 2025." It is reported that since June, Pony.ai has started mass production of its seventh-generation Robotaxi in collaboration with BAIC and GAC. The company has completed capacity ramp-up and entered steady-state production, manufacturing more than 200 units of the seventh-generation Robotaxi within two months.

"At present, the progress of these 1,000 vehicles is already more than halfway," a relevant Pony.ai representative told a reporter from China Times. This means that the number of Robotaxis under Pony.ai has reached 500. This indicates that the Robotaxis have achieved a certain level of scale, and scale implies cost dilution.

The company's founder and CTO, Lou Tiancheng, stated: "We will not only achieve the numerical target of a thousand vehicles but also lay a solid foundation for the explosive growth of the Robotaxi industry—this includes the strictest engineering practices, reliable and stable autonomous driving software algorithms, and powerful technological generalization empowered by the PonyWorld world model."

Moreover, as the scale of entire vehicles needs to increase, the mass production and cost reduction of autonomous driving kits are also being continuously advanced. According to a research report by Dongwu Securities, with the mass production and cost reduction of autonomous driving kits, the BOM cost of Robotaxi is expected to drop to the 300,000 yuan level: Baidu released the sixth-generation unmanned vehicle Apollo RT6 priced at 205,000 yuan; Pony.ai's autonomous driving kit BOM cost has decreased by 70% compared to the previous generation. Among these, the costs of the onboard computing unit and lidar have decreased by 80% and 68%, respectively, keeping the overall vehicle cost under 300,000 yuan. Additionally, the Dongwu Securities report suggests that there is still some room for cost reduction in Robotaxi.

In April this year, WeRide founder and CEO Tony Han stated that autonomous driving technology requires substantial investment, and the return will be a "long process." Their goal is to achieve profitability within five years. Pony.ai founder and CEO James Peng also mentioned that Pony.ai's profitability depends on the deployment of Robotaxis, and the company expects to break even around 2028 or 2029.