(Yicai) Oct. 24 -- Pony.ai set up its European research and development center in Luxembourg last month and is teaming up with Emile Weber, a leading transport company in the region, as the Chinese autonomous driving startup seeks to expand its global footprint.

The Luxembourg R&D center will focus on the development of cutting-edge fields in unmanned driving and launch customized solutions for the European market, the Robotaxi and Robotruck operator said yesterday.

The tie-up with Emile Weber will help promote autonomous mobility and carry out industrial co-operation in the region, it said, citing the memorandum of understanding penned by the two parties yesterday.

Pony.ai filed to go public on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Oct. 18 with the ticker ‘PONY,’ according to the initial public offering prospectus submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Pony.ai also has R&D centers in China and the US and has joined forces with businesses in South Korea, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on self-driving tech and its application.

Pony.ai's revenue from Robotaxis surged 86 percent in the first half from the same time last year, while earnings from Robotrucks soared 62.4 percent, and that for its technology licensing and application services skyrocketed 10-fold, according to the company’s prospectus.

Robotrucks’ annual revenue is in the hundreds of millions of Chinese yuan, equivalent to tens of millions of US dollars, Vice President Li Hengyu, who is also head of the Robotruck business unit, recently said.

Editor: Kim Taylor