-- Robotaxi revenues growth -- Robotaxi revenues grew by 395.4% 
      year-over-year in Q1, with fare-charging revenues rising by 456.5%. 
 
   -- Updating 2026 growth targets -- We raise our 2026 Robotaxi revenues 
      target from 3 times to more than 3.5 times the level in 2025 and year-end 
      Robotaxi fleet size target from 3,000 units to over 3,500 units 1. 
 
   -- Increasing User Demand & Order Volume -- Demonstrating resilience against 
      typical industry seasonality, user base and paid order volume grew 
      month-over-month year to date. Notably, average weekly paid orders in May 
      2026 increased by 119% compared to January 2, and our registered users 
      more than tripled year-over-year 3. 
 
   -- Broadening domestic and overseas deployment -- Our Robotaxi fleet has 
      exceeded 1,700 units 4. In China, we expanded into core urban areas of 
      Guangzhou. Globally, we initiated our Robotaxi deployment in Croatia 
      together with our local partners, marking the first commercial Robotaxi 
      service in Europe. 

NEW YORK, May 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pony AI Inc. ("Pony.ai" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: PONY; HKEX: 2026), a global leader in achieving large-scale mass production and commercialization of autonomous driving technology, today announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2026.

Dr. James Peng, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pony.ai, commented, "We made continued progress across the domestic and overseas markets in the first quarter of 2026. Our Robotaxi fare-charging revenues saw an over five-fold increase year-over-year. Today, we have continued to scale our commercial operation, supported by scaled fleet, technological and operational capabilities, and user experience. Building on this foundation, we are pleased to raise the 2026 targets we set earlier this year, and now expect to end the year with a Robotaxi fleet exceeding 3,500 vehicles deployed in over 20 cities worldwide, and Robotaxi revenues to reach over 3.5 times the amount recorded in 2025 (1) . Supported by our dual-engine strategy and joint deployment model, we will continue to provide safe and reliable Robotaxi services at scale, promoting the sustainable development of the autonomous driving industry and the broader society."

Dr. Tiancheng Lou, Chief Technology Officer of Pony.ai, commented, "Safety is the foundation of everything we build at Pony.ai, and it is embedded across our autonomous driving stack, vehicle design and daily operations. At the algorithm level, reinforcement learning and world models allow us to operate in a vast range of complex, safety-critical scenarios -- from dense urban roads and rush hour traffic to rare but challenging corner cases -- delivering safety performance meaningfully above human drivers. At the vehicle level, we have achieved fail-operational capabilities through system-wide software and hardware redundancy. Even in the event of software or hardware component failure, the vehicle can continue to navigate safely and pull over safely at a suitable roadside location if necessary. Beyond the technology, safety is also embedded into our governance and day-to-day operations. A dedicated safety governance team ensures controls across the lifecycle, while enhanced operational safeguards and ground support capabilities enable us to manage unexpected situations with speed, discipline and accountability. As our fully-driverless Robotaxi fleet continues to scale, the multi-layered safety framework will remain critical to our technology leadership and long-term commercialization."

Dr. Leo Wang, Chief Financial Officer of Pony.ai, commented, "In the first quarter, we continued to make progress on commercialization, delivering quarterly revenues of US$34.3 million, up 145.0% year-over-year. Robotaxi revenues increased 395.4% year-over-year, with fare-charging revenues growing 456.5%, reflecting the continuous scaling of our fleet operations. We also continued to make disciplined investments in the seventh generation ("Gen-7") Robotaxi deployment, technology optimization and future bill-of-materials ("BOM") cost reduction to support further scaling up. We believe our balance sheet and improving operating leverage position us well to pursue our 2026 objectives."

Accelerating Robotaxi Commercialization Through Scaled Fleet Deployment, Technology and Operational Capabilities, and User Experience

   -- Revenues Growth and Operating Progress. 1) Our Robotaxi business 
      sustained consistent month-over-month growth year to date across key 
      commercialization indicators, including fleet scale, user base and paid 
      order volume, demonstrating resilience against typical industry 
      seasonality in mobility demand. 2) Registered users in China more than 
      tripled year-over-year 3. 3) Average weekly paid orders in May 2026 grew 
      by 119% compared to January 2, reflecting growth in user adoption and 
      ride frequency. 
 
   -- Scaling Fleet Deployment with Improved Cost Efficiency. 1) Robotaxi fleet 
      size reached more than 1,700 units 4, as we continued the rollout of our 
      Gen-7 vehicles across Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation ("BAIC"), 
      Guangzhou Automotive Corporation ("GAC"), and Toyota. We have upwardly 
      revised our initial year-end fleet size target of 3,000 units and are 
      positioned to surpass 3,500 units by the end of the year 1. 2) The 
      upgraded Gen-7 Robotaxi, showcased at the Beijing Auto Show, further 
      demonstrates our cost optimization roadmap. By mid-2027, we are targeting 
      a total BOM cost of below RMB230,000 for the domestic market, which 
      includes both the autonomous driving kits ("ADK") and the base vehicle, 
      to support future large-scale deployment. 3) Driven by technological 
      advancements, scale expansion, and optimized operational efficiency, we 
      continue to reduce daily operating cost per vehicle. 
 
   -- Expanding Operational Coverage Through Our Dual-Engine Strategy and Joint 
      Deployment Model. 1) In China, we continued to broaden our operational 
      footprint, entering into Guangzhou's core urban areas including Haizhu 
      District, with coverage extending to high-traffic destinations like 
      Canton Tower and the Pazhou headquarters cluster. 2) Globally, we 
      initiated our Robotaxi deployment in Croatia together with our local 
      partners, marking the first commercial Robotaxi service in Europe. 
      Concurrently, we are initiating driverless deployments in Dubai. We have 
      established a presence in 9 countries, and started services to the public 
      in 4 overseas markets, including Croatia, Qatar, Singapore and South 
      Korea 3. 3) Our joint deployment model with partners such as OnTime 
      Mobility and Verne has started generating revenues in the first quarter 
      of 2026, complementing our core fare-charging Robotaxi revenues and 
      enabling more efficient use of capital in fleet deployment. 4) We remain 
      on track to expand our Robotaxi footprint to over 20 cities worldwide by 
      year-end, supported by our dual-engine strategy and joint deployment 
      model across diverse regulatory and operating environments. 
 
   -- Strengthening Operational and Service Capabilities as Key Advantages for 
      Sustainable Commercialization. 1) Our ability to navigate highly complex 
      scenarios enables our Robotaxis to serve peak-hour demand and 
      high-traffic urban areas, supporting more frequent use cases and daily 
      mobility needs. 2) Despite post-discount fares being above the 
      entry-level ride-hailing options, demand on our PonyPilot app remained 
      strong. 3) To support sustainable scaling, we continue to optimize ground 
      operations, from charging efficiency to dispatching algorithms, keeping 
      our fleet in good operating condition, improving utilization, reducing 
      operating costs and delivering smoother, more reliable journeys. 

Strengthening Scalable Level 4 Autonomous Driving Through World Model, Fail-Operational Redundancy and Smart Fleet Management

   -- Self-Improving World Model. 1) Level 4 driverless systems must achieve 
      safety performance substantially beyond human drivers to support 
      large-scale deployment, which cannot rely solely on imitating human 
      driving behavior or accumulating Level 2 assisted-driving data. 2) As the 
      virtual driver becomes increasingly advanced, human evaluation alone is 
      no longer sufficient. Further model improvement increasingly requires 
      AI-powered evaluation and self-iteration. 3) Our world model is designed 
      to generate, validate and evaluate complex safety-critical scenarios at 
      scale, allowing the virtual driver to continuously learn, improve and 
      evolve through an AI-driven closed loop. 
 
   -- Fail-Operational Safeguards. 1) Our vehicles are designed with 
      multi-layered redundancy to achieve fail-operational capability, allowing 
      the system to remain functional even if certain hardware or software 
      components fail. 2) Our vehicles are designed to operate safely without 
      relying on network or GPS connectivity, and in the event of software or 
      hardware component failure, can continue operating safely and select an 
      appropriate location to pull over, rather than stop abruptly in the 
      middle of a lane. 
 
   -- End-to-End Fleet Management Capabilities. 1) Dedicated safety governance 
      teams embed safety controls across daily operation, helping prevent 
      operational risks before they arise. 2) High-standard operational 
      safeguards and efficient ground support capabilities enable rapid and 
      disciplined responses to unexpected situations. 

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires

May 26, 2026 05:00 ET (09:00 GMT)