James Peng

James Peng is the co-founder and CEO of Pony.ai, an autonomous driving company he helped establish in 2016 and took public on Nasdaq in November 2024 as the first Robotaxi stock . He has led the firm through multiple funding rounds, including a $267 million raise at over $5.3 billion valuation in 2020 and a subsequent Series D first close at $8.5 billion in early 2022 . Under his leadership, Pony.ai secured a $100 million investment from Saudi NEOM and NIF in late 2023 as part of its globalization push , and he has consistently framed the company's mission around building a "virtual driver" capable of handling diverse road conditions and advancing toward mass commercialization .