Pony.ai introduced a new autonomous‑driving domain controller on April 25 2026 that is built on NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion and powered by the DRIVE AGX Thor SoC. The controller uses NVIDIA NVLink to interconnect two Thor chips, delivering a combined maximum performance of 4,000 FP4 TFLOPS and supporting multiple compute tiers and cooling options to meet the safety, redundancy, and deployment flexibility needs of L4 autonomous vehicles.
The dual‑Thor architecture, linked by NVLink, allows the controller to process the massive data streams required for L4 autonomy while maintaining low latency and high reliability. The design also incorporates advanced cooling solutions and safety‑redundant pathways, ensuring that the system can operate continuously in a wide range of operating environments and meet the rigorous safety standards of autonomous mobility platforms.
Pony.ai’s L4 platform, which underpins its robotaxi service, will use this new controller to accelerate the rollout of its fleet. The company has set a target of deploying more than 3,000 robotaxis across more than 20 cities by the end of 2026 and has already achieved unit‑economics breakeven in two Chinese markets. In 2025, shipments of its earlier “Fangzai” domain controller grew more than 500 % year‑over‑year, underscoring the demand for high‑performance autonomous hardware and the commercial momentum behind Pony.ai’s strategy.
The partnership with NVIDIA continues a long‑standing collaboration that began in 2017. By integrating the latest DRIVE AGX Thor platform, Pony.ai expands NVIDIA’s footprint in the automotive AI market and positions both companies to meet the growing demand for L4 autonomous solutions. The new controller represents a significant step forward in compute capability, energy efficiency, and system robustness for autonomous vehicles.
"Our collaboration with NVIDIA has supported several critical milestones in Pony.ai’s autonomous driving journey," said Dr. James Peng, Founder and CEO of Pony.ai. "The next‑generation domain controller built on NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion will be a key enabler for the continued evolution of our L4 autonomous driving products and help accelerate large‑scale commercialization." "Autonomous driving systems are rapidly increasing in complexity, driving the need for scalable, high‑performance compute platforms," added Rishi Dhall, Vice President of Automotive at NVIDIA.
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