SA国际传媒

Autonomous driving startupraised $400 million in funding from , bringing its latest funding round to , the company announced this week.

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The fresh cash also lifts Pony鈥檚 valuation to the over-$3 billion mark. The company now has in total funding, according to SA国际传媒.

Pony.ai was founded in December 2018 and started testing its robotaxi service (PonyPilot) in late 2018 in China, according to a company . It also introduced a robotaxi pilot service in California in November 2019.

This isn鈥檛 Toyota鈥檚 first rodeo with Pony.ai. The auto giant partnered with the startup in August 2019 for autonomous driving pilots in China.

The new investment will 鈥渆xpand the partnership鈥檚 scope of collaboration,鈥� Pony said in the statement. 鈥淚n addition to co-developing autonomous driving technology, Pony.ai and Toyota will look beyond the vehicle itself to explore further possibilities on mobility services.鈥�

Toyota鈥檚 investment makes sense, as large automakers have been doubling down on investments in car technology startups. As SA国际传媒 News previously reported, since the beginning of 2019, automakers have led funding rounds valued at more than $6 billion.

Toyota ranked as the second-most active automaker investor by round count, according to SA国际传媒 data current as of January 2020. Toyota has also led funding rounds for startups and .

Pony.ai鈥檚 other investors include and . It last raised in April 2019, according to SA国际传媒.

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