PONY.US (PONY.US) 2025 Q1 financial report: Robotaxi revenue increased 200% year over year, fleet size reached 1,000 units by the end of the year

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on May 20, autonomous driving company PONY.US (PONY.US) released unaudited financial results for the first quarter of 2025. According to financial reports, My Little Pony Zhixing's total revenue for the first quarter was 102 million yuan (13.98 million US dollars), up 12% year on year; of these, Robotaxi's business revenue reached 12.3 million yuan (1.73 million US dollars), up 200% year on year. As of the end of the first quarter, total investments in cash equivalents and long-term and short-term financial management amounted to $5.359 billion (US$739 million).

Revenue growth, cost reduction, and large-scale mass production are important highlights of My Little Pony's earnings report for this quarter, all of which are related to its core business Robotaxi. Peng Jun, co-founder and CEO of My Little Pony Zhixing, said that 2025 is the year of mass production of Little Pony Zhixing's Robotaxi. As the cost of the autonomous driving system for the seventh-generation Robotaxi falls and production accelerates, the size of the Robotaxi fleet will expand to 1,000 units by the end of 2025.

Robotaxi's business revenue was the main reason why revenue continued year-on-year growth in the first quarter. Robotaxi's business revenue comes from two main sources: passenger fare revenue and technology solution project revenue. Passenger fare revenue increased significantly in the first quarter, with a year-on-year increase of 800%. On the one hand, this is due to the expansion of paid Robotaxi services in first-tier cities: Currently, the commercial operation of My Little Pony Zhixing Robotaxi covers places such as northern Guangshen, etc., with a total area of more than 2,000 square kilometers, almost 20 times the city area of San Francisco in the US, covering key transportation hubs such as central urban areas, airports, and high-speed rail stations; on the other hand, thanks to refined operation strategies for different user groups, the number of registered users increased by more than 20% in the first quarter.

Reducing costs is an important step for My Little Pony to promote large-scale mass production of Robotaxi. The Robotaxi model equipped with the seventh-generation autonomous driving system solution has features such as 100% vehicle grade components, a 70% reduction in the total cost of the autonomous driving kit compared to the previous generation, and platform-based adaptation design. “By optimizing inference calculation efficiency by 3 times, the seventh-generation Robotaxi is the world's first model to achieve all-weather L4 autonomous driving in all scenarios on a vehicle-grade chip. This not only lengthens the product lifecycle, but also optimizes hardware costs.” Lou Tiancheng, co-founder and CTO of Little Pony Zhixing, said that through self-developed “PonyWorld (PonyWorld) + Virtual Driver (Virtual Driver)” and the support of vehicle-grade hardware, etc., My Little Pony Zhixing has significantly reduced the hardware cost of the seventh-generation platform. In addition, autonomous vehicle fleet operations are now highly automated, improving operational efficiency and reducing operating costs.

The seventh-generation Robotaxi is a milestone in My Little Pony's move towards mass production. Currently, My Little Pony Zhixing is partnering with three car companies, Toyota, BAIC, and GAC, to establish close strategic partnerships to jointly promote mass production of the seventh-generation Robotaxi front assembly.

In the long run, mass production capacity of the seventh-generation Robotaxi has brought greater benefits to My Little Pony, but R&D expenses have increased in the short term. In the first quarter of 2025, My Little Pony Zhixing adjusted R&D expenses to 295 million yuan (US$40.58 million), an increase of 38% over the previous year. Wang Haojun, CFO of My Little Pony, said that 2025 is a key year for Robotaxi to expand its scale. While increasing investment in core business, My Little Pony will further improve capital use efficiency to drive future growth and build a long-term sustainable profit model.

At the same time, My Little Pony also continues to promote alliances with strategic partners to pave the way for large-scale commercialization. Previously, My Little Pony Zhixing had already reached cooperation with Alipay, Gaode, and Singaporean transport operator Comfort High. In April and May of this year, My Little Pony Zhixing also reached strategic cooperation with Tencent Cloud and ride-hailing giant Uber: My Little Pony Zhixing and Tencent Cloud will explore applications such as the “travel service” portal and Tencent Maps within the WeChat terminal to expand user coverage; the Little Pony Zhixing Robotaxi team will connect to the Uber platform in the second half of this year, and the cooperation will take the lead in landing in the Middle East. With top platforms such as Tencent Cloud and Uber, My Little Pony will reach more than 1 billion domestic and foreign users.

Robotaxi's global layout is also being actively promoted. Since this year, My Little Pony has obtained a Robotaxi test license in Luxembourg, started road tests in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea, and launched the first joint autonomous driving travel service project with Comfort High School.

It is worth mentioning that on May 14, before the financial report was released, the two co-founders of My Little Pony Zhixing, CEO Peng Jun, and CTO Lou Tiancheng, had signed separate agreements to voluntarily extend the share lockdown period for 540 days. This move not only reflects the founding team's firm belief in the company's long-term value, but also further strengthens investors' confidence in the long-term development of the autonomous driving industry.