On Monday, Feb. 24, the City of Fremont, California and Pony.ai launched a pilot program that uses Pony.ai’s shared, on-demand, autonomous last-mile service to provide rides for a group of City employees.

Participating employees will be transported from Fremont’s Amtrak/ACE Station to City Hall and City of Fremont Development Services Center via Pony.ai’s autonomous vehicles, which have a safety operator present in each vehicle to ensure safe and smooth navigation of complex road scenarios. 

Each vehicle is equipped with Pony.ai’s full-stack autonomous driving technology, which serves as the “brains” of the vehicle. The technology is also expected to serve as a building block to the future Smart City, the entities say.

“By partnering with a local autonomous technology firm Pony.ai, the City of Fremont is acting as a test bed for a transportation solution that has the potential to alleviate congestion, reduce carbon emissions, decrease the number of traffic accidents, and optimize vehicle and land usage,” says Fremont Mayor Lily Mei.

“Together, we are laying the groundwork for a safer and smarter city.”

The Fremont Mobility Action Plan was adopted in March 2019 to address some of the issues that Mayor Lily Mei spoke of. The Pony.ai pilot program is one solution that the city of Fremont is looking into to help meet various goals and serve the internal travel demands of Fremont’s growing population of 230,000 residents.

“In the long term, Pony.ai aims to offer a service that not only addresses the community’s daily transit needs, but also serves as a key enabler to a broader smart city infrastructure in Fremont and beyond,” says Pony.ai CEO James Peng.

“With our autonomous driving technology, we will facilitate business activity and create economic value for the broader region, as well as contribute to a safe and congestion-free transportation environment.”

Throughout the pilot program, the pilot program team made up of representatives from the city of Fremont and Pony.ai will monitor performance, user feedback, and unknowns to evaluate results and explore options for program expansion.