Self-driving Firm DeepRoute Raises USD 300 Million from Alibaba

Automotive Author: 刘城宏 Editor: 张宇喆 Sep 14, 2021 03:23 PM (GMT+8)

The investment has skyrocketed the firm's valuation to a staggering USD 1 billion.

Automatic driving

DeepRoute.ai, an autonomous driving firm based in the Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Wuhan, will use the funds to double the fleet of its test robo-taxis to 150 by the end of this year from the current 70.

The round of financing was led by Alibaba, followed by Jeneration Capital, Fosun Ruizheng Capital, Yunqi Capital and Glory Ventures.

It has joined the list of self-driving unicorn firms including  Pony.ai, Didi autopilot, Momenta, AutoX and other companies.  

The investment comes as automakers and technology firms are ploughing billions of dollars into autonomous driving, aiming to take an early lead in what many see as the future of mobility.

  At present, the business model of DeepRoute can be divided into two parts:

First, take the automatic driving network car Hailing as the main line to ensure the company's advantages in the whole L4 level automatic driving technology. The main partners in this regard include travel platforms and car enterprises.

Second, after the modularization of L4 driving technology, the firm will carry out some cooperation in the commercial vehicle sector. It will carry out business cooperation in container trucks similar to docks and ports and urban logistics.