Fierce competition in China for autonomous driving! After successfully obtaining road test qualifications in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, California, and other places, and the first batch of manned demonstration application licenses issued by Shanghai DiDi is accelerating development in that field.
Didi strengthen its partnership with BAIC, expanding last January creation of JV for new-energy vehicles. Under the agreement, Didi and BAIC said they will jointly develop high-level customized self-driving models through in-depth cooperation in automobile technologies, artificial intelligence and ride-sharing areas. They will focus on the research, development, and commercialization of L4 autonomous-driving cars.
Thanks to late May SoftBank investment of USD $500 million, DiDi Chuxing plans to hire up to 200 employees this year to strengthen its autonomous driving department and accelerate the expansion of autonomous taxi services in Shanghai and other regions. The CFO of the company said that the autonomous driving department will have 500 to 600 employees by the end of 2020.
Presently, the vehicle used for DiDi’s autonomous driving efforts is the Volvo XC60, which costs more than €50,000. In addition to vehicle costs, it is also equipped with nearly 20 sensors, including various lidars, radars and cameras, for a total vehicle value of more than €120,000. DiDi’s announcement that they will have a million fully autonomous driverless cars by 2030 illustrates the magnitude of the investment.
