City-level bike profitability turns positive, Pony.ai Q3 revenue up 72% year-on-year, gross margin rises to 18.4% | Financial Report Highlights

City-level bike profitability turns positive, Pony.ai Q3 revenue up 72% year-on-year, gross margin rises to 18.4% | Financial Report Highlights

The autonomous driving company Pony.ai released its third quarter financial report, with revenue achieving a year-on-year growth of 72%, mainly thanks to the strong performance of its Robotaxi business. This quarter, the company made a key breakthrough in commercialization: its seventh-generation Robotaxi achieved single-vehicle profitability on a city-wide basis in Guangzhou, marking a significant milestone in its business model.

However, despite revenue growth, the company still faces the structural challenge of "increased revenue without increased profit." Although the gross margin improved significantly compared to the same period last year, the pressure on profitability has not been fundamentally relieved.

Key financial highlights are as follows:

Total Q3 revenue was $25.4 million, a year-on-year increase of 72.0%, with total quarterly revenue reaching 181 million RMBIn Q3 2025, Robotaxi servicerevenuewas $6.7 million (47.7 million RMB), up 89.5% from $3.5 million in Q3 2024In Q3 2025, Robotruck service revenue was $10.2 million (72.5 million RMB), up 8.7% from $9.4 million in Q3 2024Gross margin increased to 18.4%, compared to 9.2% in the same period last yearOperating loss was $69.7 million, net loss was $61.6 million; non-GAAP net loss was $55 millionBasic and diluted net loss per ordinary share under non-GAAP for Q3 2025 was $0.14 (RMB 1.00), compared to $3.50 for Q3 2024

Commercialization progress:

The seventh-generation AI has launched fully autonomous commercial operations in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and BeijingThe cost of the new seventh-generation ADK for mass production in 2026 will be reduced by another 20% based on the 2025 benchmarkEstablished asset-light cooperation models with Xihu Group, Sunshine Mobility, and others to improve capital efficiency

Pre-market, Pony.ai’s US shares rose nearly 9.5%.

Revenue Expansion Fails to Offset Increasing Losses, Mobility Services Become Key Driver for Gross Margin

Pony.ai's Q3 financial report shows the typical feature of the autonomous driving industry: "growing revenue, huge losses." The company achieved total revenue of $25.4 million in Q3, maintaining its growth momentum, with gross margin significantly increasing to 18.4% from 9.2% last year, mainly due to the rising proportion of high-margin autonomous mobility service revenue. According to the report, autonomous mobility service revenue was $6.7 million, up 89.5% year-over-year.

Beyond the Robotaxi business, Pony.ai’s other segments also grew. In Q3 2025, Robotruck revenue was 72.5 million RMB, and technology licensing and application revenue was 61 million RMB, both achieving year-on-year growth.

Notably, the company’s seventh-generation autonomous taxis deployed in Guangzhou achieved a breakthrough in "single-vehicle profitability on a city-wide basis" in November. However, this data is based only on daily averages in Guangzhou for November and represents local, single-vehicle profitability, which is still a considerable distance from overall company profitability.

On the spending side, the company’s operating expenses surged 76.7% year-on-year to $74.3 million. Among them, $12.7 million of R&D expense was invested in automated customization of the seventh-generation system, indicating significant cost pressure during commercialization.

In terms of cash flow, as of the end of September, the company’s cash and equivalents stood at $587.7 million, down $160 million from the end of June. Cumulative free cash outflow for the first nine months reached $173.6 million, primarily used for capital injection into its joint venture Huafeng Intelligent Technology, daily operation, and procurement of seventh-generation vehicles. The recently completed Hong Kong IPO raised about $800 million, providing financial support for future development.

AI Model Enables Cost Reduction

Pony.ai’s latest financial report highlights its progress in technological cost reduction and business model advancement. The seventh-generation autonomous taxis in Guangzhou achieved "city-wide single-vehicle profitability," averaging 23 orders per day. In terms of hardware costs, the seventh-generation ADK system is expected to go into mass production in 2026, with target costs 20% lower than 2025 levels; the fourth-generation autonomous truck ADK cost is 70% lower than the previous generation.

The company attributes part of its cost reduction to the application of its "world model," PonyWorld. This system supports unsupervised closed-loop training, using simulation and AI self-learning to handle long-tail scenarios. Relevant R&D investment is still ongoing.

For its business model, the company is cooperating with Xihu Group and various mobility platforms, adopting a technology licensing and vehicle sales model, with partners responsible for fleet deployment funding. Third-quarter technology licensing and application revenue was $8.6 million, up 354.6% year-on-year, mainly driven by ADC demand in autonomous warehousing scenarios.

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