BEIJING, Dec. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — SANY Group announced that the fourth-generation autonomous heavy-duty truck co-developed by SANY Heavy Truck and Pony.ai is nearing mass-production readiness, with the first batch set for commercial operation next year. The milestone will strengthen China’s global leadership in autonomous freight and accelerate the logistics industry’s digital, intelligent, and low-carbon transformation.
Tech Breakthroughs Driving Scalable Autonomous Freight
As the latest achievement of deep technical integration between the two companies, the new model is equipped with an over 400 kWh 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 comprehensive protection system that raises autonomous freight safety standards across the industry.
Regarding operational efficiency, the “1+4” autonomous platooning solution — one manned lead truck followed by four unmanned trucks, based on pilot estimations, can reduce per-kilometer freight costs by 29% and increase operating profit by 195%. This replicable solution will support logistics in optimizing smart-port operations.
Zhou Wanchun, Vice President of SANY Group and General Manager of SANY Heavy Truck Marketing, remarked at the signing ceremony: “Mass production of the fourth-generation autonomous truck marks another milestone in SANY’s Digitalization and decarbonization strategy. 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 strategic partnership in 2022, SANY’s strength in drive-by-wire chassis and vehicle development has aligned seamlessly with Pony.ai’s leading autonomous driving technology. Together, they achieved the world’s first “5G + autonomous driving + electrification” deployment for heavy-duty trucks, advancing from prototypes to full mass production.
Working with Sinotrans, the partners have established an industry-defining “Vehicle + Technology + Scenario” model, ensuring optimal alignment between production capacity, technological maturity and real-world operations.
The mass production of the fourth-generation autonomous model will 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, together with Pony.ai will continue accelerating the intelligent and green transformation of the logistics sector.
SOURCE SANY Group
