Hardware Cut 70%: Pony.ai and GAC Unveil Gen-4 L4 Robotruck at IAA
Pony.ai showed a Gen-4 Level 4 heavy truck on GAC Commercial Vehicle's T9 electric platform at IAA Transportation 2026, with autonomous-kit costs down 70% and volume production due later this year.
Noah Park, Freight · Sept. 16, 2026 · 5-6 min
HANNOVER - Pony.ai on Monday unveiled a new Level 4 autonomous heavy-duty truck at IAA Transportation, a Gen-4 Robotruck developed with GAC Commercial Vehicle on the T9 battery-electric platform, with volume production scheduled to begin later this year for long-haul freight, dedicated-route logistics and port transportation.
The model integrates Pony.ai's Gen-4 L4 autonomous trucking system with GAC Commercial Vehicle's fully redundant drive-by-wire chassis. Steering, braking, communications, power supply, computing and sensing all feature fully redundant architectures.
The automotive-grade autonomous driving kit comprises nine lidars, three millimeter-wave radars and 13 cameras, providing 360-degree sensing coverage with no blind spots. It uses the same domain controller as Pony.ai's seventh-generation robotaxis. The bill-of-materials cost of the ADK has been reduced by 70% compared with the previous generation, while transportation costs per ton-kilometer are expected to fall by 30%.
Pony.ai's energy-efficiency algorithms, combined with the T9's 0.4 Cd drag coefficient, are expected to reduce energy consumption by 10% compared with conventional trucks.
The global debut of the T9 autonomous heavy-duty truck with GAC Commercial Vehicle marks another important step in accelerating the mass production and commercial deployment of Pony.ai's Robotrucks.
He Xing said the companies will deepen the collaboration, continue advancing volume production and deployment of the T9 robotrucks, and bring jointly developed autonomous trucking solutions to markets around the world.
Pony.ai and GAC Commercial Vehicle signed a strategic cooperation agreement on April 16. Within five months, the companies completed vehicle testing and validation ahead of the model's formal launch.
Pony.ai began developing robotrucks in 2018. It plans to enter Europe and the Middle East over the next two years, building on its China operations and robotaxi work in markets including the UAE, Qatar, Croatia, Luxembourg, Singapore and South Korea.
Noah Park covers autonomous freight for Driverless News.
