Should we see an operation to whet the appetite of investors? While the Wall Street Journal reported in mid-July that Didi Chuxing was looking to raise $ 2 billion to finance its growth , the former Chinese rival of Uber (which he bought the activities in China) made this weekend an important announcement concerning its autonomous vehicles division.
The VTC company has recently been granted permission to run its “taxi robots” in a district of Shanghai city. In the coming days, Didi will deploy 30 of its models, that users can order via its application like any other vehicle.
In a statement The company said that because of the complex traffic conditions in the megalopolis, its test program will be mixed. It will combine autonomous vehicles and human-powered vehicles for the duration of the pilot project.
Strong competition
This is an important advance for Didi, who hopes, as other VTC companies reduce, its losses ($ 1.6 billion in 2018) by gradually replacing human drivers with autonomous driving. The launch of road tests is also a signal to the competition, which is not lacking in China.
The internet giant Baidu, which started the road tests in 2015 and launched a $ 1 billion investment plan in September 2017, thanks to the predictions. But Tencent or Huawei, in particular, also eye this market. The ecosystem also includes start-up companies specializing in the development of autonomous driving software, like Pony.ai.
With a valuation of 57 billion dollars and the support of major partners like Toyota ( who invested 600 million in early July in the Chinese company ) or Softbank, Didi also has arguments to make. In early July, “The Information” also reported that the Japanese conglomerate of telecom would be ready to put the pot to support the autonomous vehicles of Chinese society.
Rest in Didi the task of restoring its image in China, splashed in recent months by the murder of many of his passengers. In early July, the Chinese blister announced that it had separated from 300,000 drivers not respecting its new security charter.