2024 is being seen as a landmark year for the entry of autonomous driving companies into the capital market.

Following the listing of chip supplier Horizon Robotics on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on October 24 and the NASDAQ debut of autonomous driving technology firm WeRide on October 25, another Chinese company related to autonomous driving, Pony.ai (stock code “PONY”), officially listed on NASDAQ on the evening of November 27, achieving the largest IPO in the U.S. stock market’s autonomous driving sector this year.

On November 21, 2024, in Shanghai, the logo of Pony.ai.

The era of autonomous driving in China is clearly taking shape, marked by a flourishing competition among various companies vying to be the "first stock," while a large number of related firms are still in line waiting to go public. Analysts believe that the combination of a favorable capital environment and investor demand has fueled this wave of IPOs in the autonomous driving sector. According to incomplete statistics, more than 56 significant investment and financing events in the autonomous driving field occurred in the third quarter of 2024, reflecting a strong confidence in this market, with disclosed financing exceeding 13.2 billion yuan.

Interestingly, whether it’s WeRide or Pony.ai, both already listed, or firms in the financing stage like Yuanrong Qixing and Haomo Ai, most of their founders and executives have backgrounds working in the Baidu autonomous driving team.

Additionally, supply chain companies such as Horizon Robotics and lidar provider TuSimple also maintain deep collaborative ties with Baidu. An ecosystem of intelligent driving closely related to Baidu seems to be taking shape.

While the autonomous driving sector is bustling, there remain a number of related enterprises facing significant uncertainty. Recently, there have been numerous "bad news" reports, with Haomo Ai recently revealed to have undergone massive layoffs, while multiple media outlets reported financial challenges facing Zongmu Technology, including partial employee wage disbursements. TuSimple, dubbed the "first stock of autonomous driving," announced its delisting three years after going public.

This is because, even after successfully listing, profitability continues to be a common challenge for these autonomous driving companies. Horizon Robotics, claimed to be the "first stock of China's autonomous driving," has accumulated losses exceeding 22 billion yuan over the past three and a half years. WeRide, known as the "first stock of global autonomous driving," has reported cumulative losses of over 5 billion yuan during the same period. The prospectus of Pony.ai indicated that in the past two and a half years, the company accumulated losses of 325 million USD, approximately 2.307 billion yuan. Wang Xiaogang, CEO of SenseTime’s robotics division and co-founder and chief scientist at SenseTime Technology, told reporters from The Paper that he believes it will take about another three years for autonomous driving-related businesses to achieve profitability.

Analysts state that becoming publicly listed can alleviate the financial pressures on autonomous driving companies, playing a crucial role in the research and development and commercialization of autonomous driving technology. The industry believes that next year may mark a turning point for these companies as they move from losses to profitability.