Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing has raised $300 million for its autonomous driving unit, adding to the $500 million the company raised in May, according to a Reuters report on Thursday (Jan. 28).
The fundraising was led by investment firm IDG Capital, with participation from CPE, the Russia-China Investment Fund, Guotai Junan International and CCB International, a representative for Didi told Reuters.
Didi started testing and developing autonomous vehicles in 2016. Also backed by SoftBank, Didi has open-road testing licenses in California, Beijing, Shanghai and Suzhou. The company also recently raised $1.5 billion for its new freight business.
In December, Uber sold its autonomous car division, Advanced Technologies Group (ATG), to self-driving car company Aurora. Aurora will also undergo a strategic partnership with Uber that will connect Aurora’s technology to Uber’s network. Uber will also invest $400 million in Aurora, and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will join Aurora’s board of directors.
Didi Chuxing also announced last year that it would roll out a robo-taxi service in Shanghai.
In August, Didi expanded into Russia, the company’s first Eurasian market. The rideshare sector in Russia also includes Yandex, which was possibly looking to buy out Uber’s share of the company. Driver recruitment began in July. Stephen Zhu, senior vice president and head of Didi’s international business, said the company is looking forward to “building a broad partnership with Russian fleet partners and drivers to provide better, safer and more convenient services to the public.”
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