Pony.ai Brings Robo-taxis to Korea as China Expands Autonomous Driving Push
Creatrip Team
22 days ago
Chinese automakers and autonomous-driving firms are advancing beyond car sales into Korea’s robo-taxi market. Pony.ai plans to introduce 200 Level-4 autonomous taxis in Korea by 2028 through a partnership with local firm FutureLink, leveraging large driving datasets gathered in China and local pilot projects in Seoul’s Gangnam district. Chinese brands such as BYD and Zeekr are already accelerating market entry with passenger and commercial models, while other makers (Xpeng, Chery, Xiaomi) weigh entry. Korea currently has mostly Level-2+ on roads and limited Level-4 pilots. Hyundai Motor Group counters with a two-track strategy: a vehicle foundry supplying hardware for robo-taxis (e.g., Ioniq 5 deployments) and in-house software development to equip future passenger models with Level-2++ and beyond—starting with a facelifted Genesis G90 and aiming for SDV (software-defined vehicle) mass production from 2028 and the Atria AI system in 2029. Industry voices warn Korea could become dependent on Chinese platforms if the robo-taxi segment expands into B2C passenger autonomous cars.
