Pony.ai, an autonomous vehicle startup based in Silicon Valley and Guangzhou, China, is no longer able to test its vehicles in California after the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the company’s license for “numerous” safety violations. The news was first reported by TechCrunch.
The issue is that the company’s workforce of safety drivers are not very safe drivers. The DMV said that, while reviewing Pony.ai’s testing license, it found “numerous violations” on the driving records of the company’s safety drivers. Pony.ai currently has 41 autonomous vehicles and 71 safety drivers registered on its permit in California.
“Because of the critical role of safety drivers to facilitate the safe testing of autonomous technology and…