AutoX, a self-driving start-up, announced that it had completed a Pre-B round of financing worth tens of millions of U.S. dollars at the end of December. It was led by Shenzhen Qianhai Hongzhao Fund and backed by other Shenzhen-based RMB funds.
This round of financing will mainly be used for the applications in the Chinese market. AutoX founder and chairman Xiao Jianxiong revealed that they are about to launch series B financing.
Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Shenzhen, AutoX has received seed round investments from individual investors Xu Xiaoping and others. In 2017, it received investments from Capital Today, MediaTek of Taiwan, and later strategic investments from SAIC. In April 2019, the company also announced that it had secured a ten million round of A3 financing led by Dongfeng Auto.
AutoX, which has been conducting self driving tests and test runs in central Shenzhen since 2018, is one of the few companies to break through the complexities of busy urban roads. At the same time, AutoX has also extended its self driving technology to Dongfeng, BYD Company, Chery Auto, Great Wall Auto, SAIC and other self brand car models, and the United Pengcheng Electric (Shenzhen’s largest taxi company, state-owned Shenba Group subsidiary) for unmanned fleet operation.
Since 2019, AutoX has opened R & D and operation centers in Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing, China. In December 2019, AutoX obtained the only self-driving license since the release of Shanghai’s new self-driving regulation 2.0, and will launch the first batch of 100 self-driving taxis in Shanghai for trial operation.
A week earlier, AutoX announced a formal partnership with European auto giant FCA at the CES in Las Vegas, bringing in Pacifica Grand Cherokee, a partner of the FCA, to launch China’s first truly unmanned robotic taxi. FCA will support the large-scale operation of AutoX in China. It will interface with AutoX’s driverless system and provide the necessary customized service for AutoX. At the same time, the FCA will adopt the AutoX full stack technology, in other countries and regions to put into use.