James Peng

Co-founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Pony.ai

Last Reviewed: September 24, 2026

Executive Summary

James Peng, formally Dr. Jun Peng, is co-founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pony.ai, an autonomous driving company listed in New York and Hong Kong. He founded it in Silicon Valley in 2016 with Tiancheng Lou, after more than a decade at Google and Baidu. The company’s operations are centered in China, and it runs commercial robotaxi services in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai. It also sells robotruck services and licenses its technology. Under his leadership Pony.ai listed on Nasdaq in November 2024 and in Hong Kong a year later, and it reported US$90 million of revenue for 2025. He controls a majority of the company’s voting power.

Career Highlights

• Co-founded Pony.ai in 2016 and serves as Chairman and CEO.
• Listed Pony.ai on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol PONY on 27 November 2024, and added a Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing (stock code 2026) on 6 November 2025.
• Pony.ai’s total revenues were US$90.0 million in 2025, up from US$75.0 million in 2024.
• Was Chief Architect of Baidu from 2011 to 2016, in charge of R&D for its autonomous driving unit.
• Received the Google Founder’s Award while a software engineer at Google between 2005 and 2011.
• Named to TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI in 2025.

Professional Journey

Peng earned a bachelor’s degree at Tsinghua University and a PhD at Stanford University. He joined Google in 2005 as a software engineer working on its back-end and front-end advertising systems, and while there he received the Google Founder’s Award, the company’s highest internal honor. In 2011 he moved to Baidu as Chief Architect, where he ran research and development for its autonomous driving unit. That was the work that led to Pony.ai.

In 2016 he left Baidu and co-founded Pony.ai with Tiancheng Lou, who had also worked at Google, Quora and Baidu and is now the company’s Chief Technology Officer. Pony.ai started in Silicon Valley and focused first on China. It now runs commercial robotaxi services in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai, and its business is split into three parts: robotaxi services, robotruck services, and licensing and applications. Its principal executive offices are in Guangzhou’s Nansha District, and it also has an office in Fremont, California. Toyota is among its shareholders.

Pony.ai’s American depositary shares began trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on 27 November 2024. On 6 November 2025 its Class A ordinary shares also began trading on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Peng remains chairman and chief executive, and through Class B shares he holds 51.6% of the company’s voting power, making Pony.ai a controlled company. Revenue grew from US$71.9 million in 2023 to US$90.0 million in 2025. The company has also expanded beyond China: it has announced partnerships with Uber in the Middle East and Europe, has launched in Zagreb, Croatia, and has agreed to bring robotaxis to South Korea. TIME named him to its TIME100 AI list in 2025.

Education

Stanford University

PhD

Tsinghua University

Bachelor’s degree