China's ride-hailing giant Didi to develop self-driving vehicles with GAC- PingW...

China's ride-hailing giant Didi to develop self-driving vehicles with GAC- PingWest

China's ride-hailing giant Didi to develop self-driving vehicles with GAC

May 19, 2021 6:23 am

Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi inked cooperation with GAC Group to jointly develop a driverless new energy vehicle (NEV) model.

Details: GAC Aion, the electric vehicle subsidiary of GAC Group, announced on May 17 the strategic cooperation with DiDi Autonomous Driving, the self-driving unit of Didi, as both parties plan to jointly develop a new driverless NEV model.

Under the agreement, the two companies will explore a joint venture partnership and project cooperation for intelligent vehicle development, combining DiDi Autonomous Driving's hardware & software R&D advantages with GAC Aion's NEV design & manufacturing capabilities and the resource of autonomous car platform. 

“DiDi will continue to increase investment in the R&D of autonomous driving technologies to make future transportation and travelling safer and more efficient. GAC Group has been an important partner of DiDi’s automotive industry ecosystem. We are pleased to explore in-depth collaboration with GAC Aion to co-develop a fully driverless factory-installed car model available for mass production,” said Zhang Bo, CTO of DiDi and CEO of DiDi Autonomous Driving.

Context: DiDi launched its autonomous driving project in 2016 and the division became a wholly-owned subsidiary in 2019. In June 2020, it launched an on-demand robotaxi service in Shanghai. Earlier this year, it announced a strategic partnership with the Huadu district in South China's Guangzhou city to invest in self-driving technology's development and commercial operation.

Established in 2017, Aion released its mass-produced Level 3 autonomous car and the world's first 5G-enabled car in 2020. The carmaker said it aims to launch Level 4 autonomous cars in 2022.

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