Sany’s fourth-generation autonomous heavy-duty truck, co-developed by Pony.ai, is nearing mass-production, with the first batch set for commercial operation next year.

This should strengthen China’s position in autonomous freight and accelerate the logistics industry’s digital, intelligent and low-carbon transformation.

As the latest achievement of deep technical integration between the two companies, the model is equipped with an over 400kWh battery pack. Each vehicle is expected to reduce annual carbon emissions by approximately 60 tons, setting a benchmark for low-carbon transformation in the logistics industry.

In safety and reliability, the truck adopts Sany’s fully redundant drive-by-wire chassis design spanning six core systems – steering, braking, communication, power supply, computing and sensing. It has passed rigorous EMC and extreme-temperature tests, establishing a protection system to raise autonomous freight safety standards across the industry.

Regarding operational efficiency, the one-plus-four autonomous platooning – one manned lead truck followed by four unmanned trucks – based on pilot estimations can reduce per-kilometre freight costs by 29% and increase operating profit by 195%. This can support logistics in optimising smart-port operations.

“Mass production of the fourth-generation autonomous truck marks another milestone in Sany’s digitalisation and decarbonisation strategy,” said Zhou Wanchun, vice president of Sany. “Our industry-leading fully redundant drive-by-wire chassis provides a reliable hardware foundation for autonomous driving. Through deep collaboration with Pony.ai, we are accelerating the scaled adoption of intelligent logistics equipment and delivering unprecedented gains in operational efficiency.”

Since forming their partnership in 2022, Sany’s strength in drive-by-wire chassis and vehicle development has aligned seamlessly with Pony.ai’s autonomous driving technology. Together, they achieved the world’s first 5G-plus-autonomous-driving-plus-electrification deployment for heavy-duty trucks, advancing from prototypes to full mass production.

Working with Sinotrans (www.sinotrans.com), the partners have established a vehicle-plus-technology-plus-scenario model, ensuring alignment between production capacity, technological maturity and real-world operations.

The mass production of the fourth-generation autonomous model could drive the industry to shift from limited demonstration operations to large-scale unmanned commercial deployment. With breakthroughs in technology, safety, low-carbon performance and business viability, Sany (www.sanyglobal.com), together with Pony.ai, say they will continue accelerating the intelligent and green transformation of the logistics sector.