SAN FRANCISCO, (Reuters) – A California regulator said Monday that it had suspended a permit to conduct driverless tests for Pony.ai’s startup tech firm Pony.ai after an accident – it was the first such suspension.

Pony.ai’s autonomous vehicle hit a road center divide and Fremont traffic signs after it turned right. This was according to the accident report that the tech firm filed with California Department of Motor Vehicles.

Japan’s Embassy in Tokyo backed the company. Toyota Motor Corp (NYSE.) Corp is mentioned in this report.

Unintentional accidents during driverless tests are quite common. The reason for the suspension was not clear.

Pony.ai was notified by the DMV on Nov. 19 that their driverless testing permit had been suspended, effective immediately following an Oct. 28 solo crash in Fremont.

Pony.ai had 10 Hyundai Motor Co Kona vehicles under its driverless test permit. The suspension did not affect Pony.ai’s safety driver permit.

Six months ago, Pony.ai was the eighth California company to be granted a driverless test permit. This joins the ranks of Alphabet (NASDAQ 🙂 Inc unit Waymo and Cruise (backed by General Motors Co (NYSE :).

Pony.ai spokesperson said that they immediately began an investigation and were in touch with California’s DMV regarding the incident. The Pony.ai spokesperson stated that safety is the foundation of its autonomous vehicle technology.

According to the company, the vast majority of autonomous driving tests have been conducted by safety drivers and this will remain so in the short-term.

According to sources, Pony.ai has suspended plans for a New York stock exchange listing earlier in the year.

According to sources, it stopped the plans as it couldn’t get assurances from Chinese authorities about not becoming a target for increased regulation against Chinese technology firms over the management and use user data.

On Monday, a Pony.ai spokesperson declined to comment about the listing.