Pony.ai says passenger's fingers caught in robotaxi door was an accident
In short
A video circulating since Oct 3 showed a man's three fingers caught in the door of a Pony.ai driverless car stopped at the roadside in Shenzhen, prompting questions about robotaxi safety. Pony.ai said the fingers were accidentally caught when a companion manually closed the door, that the passenger was checked and had no serious injury, and that traffic police who viewed its complete video ruled the case an accident rather than a traffic accident. Rival operators WeRide and Apollo Go described different emergency procedures, and analysts quoted by cnBeta said the case exposed gaps in how robotaxis handle emergencies.
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Pony.ai said a passenger whose fingers were caught in the door of one of its driverless cars was hurt by accident, after video of the incident spread online. The company told Sina Tech that on Oct 3 a passenger boarding a vehicle had their fingers accidentally caught when a companion manually closed the door, that it helped handle the situation at once and cooperated with a traffic police investigation. Jiemian, citing Modern Express, reported that the video showed a man with three fingers caught between the left front and left rear doors, the pinched area whitened, as he stamped his feet and asked passers-by for help. cnBeta reported the car was stopped at the roadside in Shenzhen. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
Pony.ai said the traffic police, after viewing a complete video the company provided, judged the case an accident rather than a traffic accident. It said it helped the passenger get medical treatment promptly, that checks found no serious problem, that the passenger had returned home to rest and that it would keep following up and provide support. A Pony.ai public relations staff member gave the same account of the cause and the passenger's condition to Jiemian on the afternoon of Oct 4. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
cnBeta reported further detail from a person familiar with the matter, who said the fingers were actually caught in the gap between the left front and left rear doors, a joint area, and that “normally the front door of this kind of driverless car cannot be opened”. According to that account, the passenger opened the left rear door for a family member and then placed his hand at the angled position left by the open door, and the family member closed it without noticing. Pony.ai was quoted as saying it had never encountered such an accident before. cnBeta said the vehicle was a mass-production model of an unnamed brand without custom door modification, and that public complaint platforms show door-related complaints for the model. [ 3 ]
Contacted as a consumer, the hotlines of three leading robotaxi operators gave different answers, cnBeta reported. WeRide said its cars have anti-pinch functions and automatic sliding doors that allow about 30 seconds to get on or off, with a delay button on the in-car tablet. Pony.ai said door-opening methods vary by model: the four-seat model in Beijing needs manual opening, while the five-seat business model has electric doors operated by a button. Apollo Go did not answer the question and said only that riders can “contact us anytime” if a problem arises while driving. cnBeta said all three mainly handle emergencies through a hotline call or an in-car button, after which they wait for back-office handling. [ 3 ]
Industry analyst Zhang Shule told cnBeta the incident itself was an accident and that any vehicle can pinch someone, but that a driverless car cannot unlock afterwards because no one is controlling it, which he called an exposed safety gap. Lu Keling, described as an internationally registered innovation manager and founder and CEO of Luke Island Technology, told cnBeta the core problem is a “single channel dependency”, saying the locked front row and the partition between front and rear mean rear-seat passengers have few other routes out. cnBeta also listed earlier cases: in March a passenger in Wuhan had clothes caught by an Apollo Go door and the emergency line went three minutes without a human, with the hotline offering 35 yuan in compensation; in August 2025 a robotaxi in Chongqing's Yongchuan drove into a municipal construction trench about 3 metres deep; and at the end of 2025 a Hello robotaxi hit two pedestrians in Zhuzhou. [ 3 ]
IT Home said Pony.ai's core businesses are robotaxi services, robotruck services and smart solutions, with commercial deployment under way in China, the United States and Europe. The company aims to expand its robotaxi fleet to more than 3,500 vehicles and to more than 20 operating cities worldwide by the end of 2026, and expects robotaxi revenue to reach 3.5 times its 2025 level. [ 1 ]
Why it matters
The case puts robotaxi door and emergency design under scrutiny as operators including Pony.ai push to expand commercial service toward more than 20 cities worldwide by the end of 2026, a target the company stated. Because robotaxis carry no driver, a customer-service hotline or an in-car button is the main channel open to a passenger in trouble, and industry figures quoted by cnBeta said a locked, unstaffed cabin can leave riders dependent on remote help.
Key facts
- Video circulating from Oct 3 showed a man with three fingers caught between the left front and left rear doors of a Pony.ai driverless car, the pinched area whitened, as he stamped his feet and asked passers-by for help, Jiemian and cnBeta reported. [ 2 , 3 ]
- Pony.ai said the passenger's fingers were accidentally caught when a companion manually closed the door while boarding. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Pony.ai said the passenger received medical checks, had no serious injury and had returned home to rest. [ 1 , 2 ]
- Pony.ai said traffic police, after viewing the complete video it provided, determined the case was an accident and not a traffic accident. [ 1 , 3 ]
- A person familiar with the matter told cnBeta the fingers were caught in the gap between the left front and left rear doors, a joint area, and that the camera angle made it look like the front door. [ 3 ]
- WeRide's hotline said its vehicles have anti-pinch functions and automatic sliding doors with about 30 seconds to board, Pony.ai's hotline said door-opening methods differ by model, and Apollo Go's hotline did not answer the question, according to cnBeta. [ 3 ]
- Industry analyst Zhang Shule told cnBeta that driverless cars cannot unlock after pinching someone because no one is on board, and called this an exposed safety gap. [ 3 ]
- IT Home reported Pony.ai aims to expand its robotaxi fleet to more than 3,500 vehicles and over 20 operating cities worldwide by the end of 2026, with robotaxi revenue reaching 3.5 times the 2025 level. [ 1 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- A video circulated showing a man's fingers caught in the door of a Pony.ai driverless car. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Pony.ai said the passenger's fingers were caught when a companion manually closed the door during boarding. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Pony.ai said the passenger was examined, had no serious injury and returned home to rest. [ 1 , 2 ]
- Traffic police, after viewing a complete video of the incident, determined it was an accident and not a traffic accident, according to Pony.ai and cnBeta. [ 1 , 3 ]
Still unclear
- Which brand and model the vehicle involved was. cnBeta said only that it was a mass-production model of some brand with no custom door modification; no document names the maker or model.
- The exact position where the fingers were caught. A person familiar with the matter told cnBeta the fingers were in the seam between the left front and left rear doors and that the video angle was misleading, but this is a single, unnamed source and the video was described by Jiemian as showing the fingers between the two doors.
- Whether the car involved had an anti-pinch function. WeRide described anti-pinch features for its own vehicles and Pony.ai's hotline described door types by model, but the documents do not say whether the vehicle in this incident had such a feature.
- The extent of online dispute over the incident. cnBeta cited Weibo AI search statistics saying nearly 60% of commenters disputed the matter, without explaining the survey method.
- Whether the passenger suffered any lasting injury. The documents only carry Pony.ai's statement that checks found no serious problem and the passenger went home to rest.
What local media are saying
Timeline, local time
- On the evening of Oct 3, video spread on social platforms of a man whose three fingers were caught in the door of a Pony.ai driverless car; the video showed the fingers whitened between the left front and left rear doors as he called for help. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- On the afternoon of Oct 4, a Pony.ai public relations staff member replied that the passenger's fingers were caught when a companion manually closed the door during boarding, that checks found no serious problem and that the passenger had returned home to rest. [ 2 ]
- IT Home published Pony.ai's response, including that it helped handle the situation at once, cooperated with the traffic police investigation, and that police viewed its complete video and judged the case an accident rather than a traffic accident. [ 1 ]
- Jiemian published its report on the incident and the company's account. [ 2 ]
- cnBeta published a follow-up with the responses of Pony.ai, WeRide and Apollo Go hotlines, the account of a person familiar with the matter, and analyst criticism of robotaxi emergency design. [ 3 ]