GUANGZHOU, China — As the hype over self-driving vehicles begins to wear a bit thin, it looks like the technology will come to trucks more quickly than passenger cars. Chinese autonomous driving company Pony.ai, which also has an office in California, has focused on applying the technology to passenger vehicles. Its latest funding round in April brought in $50 million, according to Crunchbase. In the months since, two companies that also straddle China and California but focus on self-driving trucks have brought in at least twice the amount of capital. TuSimple has raised $120 million since June, while Plus.ai raised $200 million in August, according to Crunchbase.

"Overall, the funding situation for us (has) definitely cooled (down) a little bit, but definitely not dried up," James Peng, co-founder and CEO of Pony.ai, said Tuesday at CNBC's East Tech West conference in the Nansha district of Guangzhou, China. Peng noted the company has focused more recently on strategic partnerships. As for trucks, Pony.ai announced in April the company had been testing autonomous driving for 16 weeks with a 10-person team. No further details were available when contacted this week by CNBC. Pony.ai is testing nearly 30 self-driving passenger vehicles in Nansha and they are able to navigate rush hour traffic, Peng said on Tuesday. Speaking on the same panel, Nasdaq Asia-Pacific Chairman Robert McCooey then jumped in. "Isn't, at the end of the day, the nirvana is not autonomous driving vehicles for us. It's long-haul trucks and things of that nature," he said. "That's where the real benefit is."

TuSimple self-driving truck Source: TuSimple