A logo of ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing displayed on a building in Hangzhou in China's eastern Zhejiang province.STR | AFP | Getty ImagesChinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing ( “Didi”) has amassed more than 550 million users and 31 million drivers since taking to the streets of Beijing seven years ago. In the past three years, the global rideshare giant has devoted close attention to its autonomous driving unit. That unit became an independent company on Monday in a move designed to focus and designate more resources toward business development and product innovation.
The Uber-competitor established its autonomous driving team in 2016 and has since employed more than 200 people in China, as well as at its Mountain View, California research facility, where it has been working with various auto manufacturers like Volkswagen and Toyota Motors to test core innovative technologies.
Last month, Didi Chuxing received $600 million in corporate financing from Toyota, which includes directly establishing a joint venture with GAC Toyota, a joint venture between Toyota and a Chinese car maker. The new funds come as Didi continues heavy expansion in several new overseas markets, where it hopes to challenge Uber and other ride-hailing giants like India's Ola, Brazil's Easy Taxi and Singapore's Grab — a three-time CNBC Disruptor 50 company.
Didi Chuxing is also a notable Disruptor 50 company, breaking the top 10 at No. 4 in 2018 and No. 2 in 2019.
“Autonomous driving will greatly enhance the safety and efficiency of travel,” said Didi Chairman and CEO Cheng Wei in a release. “In the future, people's transportation needs … will be met by the combination of seamless autonomous driving technology and human driving services that are indispensable for their quality and warmth.”
To fund the new driverless car company, Didi is in new talks with SoftBank, according to a report from The Information. The Japanese tech and telecom giant has previously made multiple, large investments in the ride-hailing company. Based on the most recent funding round, Didi Chuxing has raised $22.74 billion and is valued at $57.6 billion.
In 2016, the same year that Didi's autonomous driving unit was established, SoftBank played an influential role in Uber's decision to sell its China business to Didi, notably pushing the U.S. ride-hailing giant out of the region and exposing Didi to their customer base outside of China for the first time.
Investors want clearer profit pathAsad Hussain, a PitchBook analyst and an expert in mobility, ride-sharing and autonomous vehicles, sees the company's decision as part of a broader trend consistent with the challenges that self-driving technology presents.
“Spinning out autonomous divisions enables these companies to raise outside capital and offers investors a more targeted bet on self-driving relative to investing in the parent entity,” he said. “We think this is a logical move for Didi and other ride-sharing companies facing pressure from investors to streamline costs and show a clear path to profitability.”
Didi went through a major round of layoffs earlier this year, according to multiple reports, as it continues to lose money, like its competitors. Uber recently announced 400 job cuts in its marketing team.
Waymo, Alphabet's autonomous vehicle unit, also announced that it would raise outside capital for the first time this past March, positioning itself to cut costs and limit downside risks.
Didi's Chief Technology Officer (CTO) will head the new autonomous driving company as CEO. In an email to CNBC, a communications representative for Didi said that the company does not currently have plans for an IPO.
Uber and Lyft, the U.S. rideshare leaders with heavy investments in driverless vehicles, have fared poorly after highly anticipated IPOs earlier this year as investors doubt how quickly they can become profitable.
VIDEO2:4902:49There will be consolidation in the driverless car industry: Pony.aiSquawk Box AsiaIn a recent survey, auto and tech industry experts predicted it will be at least 12 years before fully autonomous vehicles are being sold to private buyers. While Tesla CEO Elon Musk says 1 million Teslas capable of being robotaxis will be on the road by the end of next year, industry experts say robotaxis will not be ready for widespread public use until 2025.
Last week, General Motors subsidiary Cruise, postponed a planned launch of an autonomous ride-share service as it continues developing, validating and making sure its self-driving cars are ready.
“What's most important when we do launch this service is that we do it the right way,” Cruise CEO Dan Ammann said.
Tag: Toyota
EU engine-tech project could help gas catch up with gasoline
Some biofuels, like biogas from landfills—or synthetic methane—are attractive for use in vehicles as they have a potentially low energy cost to produce. They also have lower criteria emissions, of the sort that affect human health and cause smog.
These engines should easily be cross-compatible with those using compressed natural gas (CNG). Up until now, however, passenger-car engines haven’t been optimized for these fuels (even natural gas, in most cases) and those designed to burn these fuels have often been adapted versions of gasoline engines, with some traits of diesels added.
As a result, gaseous-fuel-burning engines have lagged gasoline engines in thermal efficiency, despite their potential to do better than gasoline.
Tech talk-through for gaseous-fuels emissions reduction
That was the subject of a $26 million EU project called Gas On. The four-year project just concluded in March, with more results revealed in May. The goal was to design a gas-only internal combustion engine that reduced carbon-dioxide emissions (and thus fuel consumption) by 20 percent compared to best-in-class 2014 vehicles using compressed natural gas (CNG), with a “gasoline-like vehicle driving range.”
Aiming to step up efficiency for light vehicles
The project included a consortium of 20 members, including Volkswagen Group, Ford, Renault, and Fiat, and it sought innovative concepts for direct injection, ignition, and boosting systems, advanced exhaust aftertreatment, and systems that detect the gas composition and quality.
Volkswagen Group Lean CNG Combustion Concept
The best engine achieved the targeted 20-percent reduction in fuel consumption (based on WLTP-cycle calculations for a mid-size passenger car), with a peak efficiency of more than 45 percent and more than 40 percent efficiency reached over a wide operating range.
The efficiency gains are a step in the right direction, if the technology ever stands a chance, as gasoline development keeps nudging efficiency upward, battery electrics catch on, and energy experts continue to point to larger utility-scale power production as the best hope for these gaseous fuels.
Could be a hard sell for consumers, companies
With major gains for gasoline engines on one side, and growing momentum around electric vehicles on the other side, the industry faces some challenges for deploying biogas vehicles on any large scale.
2016 Toyota Prius Unveiling
The arrival of the fourth-generation 2016 Prius signalled the latest round of improvements for gasoline engines, as Toyota claimed a 40-percent thermal efficiency for its engine. The Hyundai Ioniq and Kia Niro that soon followed also claimed 40 percent. And now the Dynamic Force Engine that’s being installed in the new Camry and RAV4, among others, is rated at 40 percent in standard versions and 41 percent in hybrids.
Hyundai is reportedly targeting 50 percent for at least one next-generation engine. Meanwhile Mazda has claimed a thermal efficiency of up to 44 percent for its Skyactiv-X engine, which is likely to come to the U.S. in the next year or two, and it anticipates—from some reports—an efficiency in the range of as high as 56 percent for the next generation of its Skyactiv gasoline technology.
Better used for power generation?
Thermal efficiency is directly related to fuel economy and emissions and, simply put, how much work is produced from the fuel energy input. Natural-gas powered plants, while controversial at times, can already approach 60 percent efficiency.
2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas
Real-life use is also an important point. According to the EPA, EVs actually convert 59 to 62 percent of grid energy to power at the wheels, but typical internal combustion engines convert 17-21 percent. For some of those hybrids with the most efficient engines, the total-vehicle figure may be close to 30 percent today.
While the official part of the Gas On project is over, the next step will be for the automakers to conduct some real-world testing with fleets—echoing what happened about a decade ago when the last round of light-duty natural-gas vehicles, like the Honda Civic Natural Gas.
With electric cars more widely seen as a future replacing internal combustion gasoline tech, it’s going to be an even tougher argument this time around.
Nikola wins DOE fuel-cell development grant
Startup truckmaker Nikola, which plans to build fuel-cell-powered semi trucks in Arizona, won a $1.7 million grant to research improved techniques to assemble fuel-cell membranes, the company announced on Wednesday.
The company will partner with Department of Energy scientists from Carnegie Mellon University, Northeastern University, and Georgia Institute of Technology.
The heavy trucks that Nikola is developing require higher power output and greater durability than other fuel-cell vehicles, and require more advanced electrode structures in the fuel cells, the company said. Its trucks are expected to develop 1,000 horsepower and 2,000 pound-feet of torque. The company said it will begin testing its trucks on Arizona highways later this year and hopes to reach full production in 2022.
Nikola's research is expected to investigate new ways to assemble the interface between the electrode and the proton exchange membrane to make it more robust and reproducible. Nikola said it will include research into catalysts, ionomers, and gas diffusion layers.
Nikola Tre
“This award provides an opportunity for the…Nikola team to leverage expertise in academia and exceptional resources within the DOE Fuel Cell Consortium for Performance and Durability to accelerate a breakthrough that will benefit the entire hydrogen and fuel cell industry and community,” said Jesse Schneider, executive vice president of Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Technologies at Nikola.
The company is also working on a DOE grant to develop hydrogen fueling stations with its Norwegian partner NEL Hydrogen.
In April, Nikola announced plans to also produce a fully battery-powered semi, along with non-sleeper cabs for short-haul trucking routes in North America and Europe. Nikola could produce the battery-powered truck first, though it has made no announcement what models will make up its initial production.
Tesla is also planning to put a battery-powered semi truck into production later next year, and Toyota has a pilot program to build short-haul fuel-cell-powered semis for use at the Port of Los Angeles.
Nikola said it has 14,000 orders for its fuel-cell semis, including an order for 800 trucks from Anheuser-Busch,
French company makes EV conversions easy for old clunkers
Off-the-shelf EV conversions aren't just for classic cars like Prince Harry's Jaguar anymore.
French startup Transition One plans to make it easy to convert a wide variety of average old cars in the country to electric power by building a standard conversion kit. The company says the kit will fit several top-selling models in Europe, including the Renault Twingo II, Fiat 500, Citroën C1, Peugeot 107, Toyota Aygo, and VW Polo.
The kit will sell for about $9,400 (8,500 Euros), and buyers can receive a 3,500 Euro tax credit in France, bringing the equivalent cost down to about $5,500. The company plans to complete each conversion in about four hours, once production is up and running.
The company has started by building a prototype electric car from a 2009 Renault Twingo, a small hatchback about the size of a Toyota Yaris. It uses Tesla battery modules in three packs under the hood, along with the motor and power electronics, and two more battery packs where the gas tank once sat.
Classic Mini Cooper electric conversion by Swind
The packs weigh 265 pounds, giving it about 18 kilowatt-hours of energy, which the company says will deliver about 112 miles of range in the Twingo.
In an interview with Bloomberg, company founder Aymeric Libeau said, “I’m selling to people who can’t afford a brand new 20,000 Euro [$22,200] electric car.”
The plan might be compared to that of Montreal's Ecotuned—aiming to convert old Ford F-150s with dying gas powertrains to electric power for fleets. The types of large, body-on-frame trucks that Ecotuned converts are as plentiful in North America as the small cars that Transition One plans to convert are in Europe. Other conversion companies—and some automakers—have begun focused conversion efforts on certain classics, such as the Jaguar E-Type, Porsche 911, and the original Mini Cooper.
Libeau still needs to get his conversions approved by European regulators, which he says he expects to receive by the end of the year. Transition One is also seeking financing to buy a factory to produce up to 400 of the conversions a year, and plans to open orders in September to test the market demand.
Toyota and Preferred Networks to Begin Joint Development on Service Robots that Cater to Market Needs
Aug. 07, 2019
Toyota and Preferred Networks to Begin Joint Development on Service Robots that Cater to Market NeedsUsing Toyota's Human Support Robot as a base, the two companies will accelerate development by sharing their respective technologies
Musashi Seimitsu and KeraCel to develop 3D printed solid-state batteries for motorcycles
Musashi Seimitsu Industry, a Japanese automobile parts manufacturer, and advanced battery technology specialist KeraCel have formed a strategic partnership to accelerate the development of 3D printed solid-state batteries. As part of this partnership, Musashi has made an investment in KeraCel to advance its 3D printed batteries toward high volume production. Together, the partners will focus primarily on… Continue reading Musashi Seimitsu and KeraCel to develop 3D printed solid-state batteries for motorcycles
Indonesia president signs new EV decree to bolster industry
JAKARTA: Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Thursday he signed a decree that lays out government support to build an electric vehicle (EV) industry in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, the Cabinet Secretariat said in a statement. Widodo did not elaborate, but a draft of the decree reviewed by Reuters ahead of the signing showed it… Continue reading Indonesia president signs new EV decree to bolster industry
Osram invests in driverless car AI company – LEDs Magazine
Osram might be in the midst of an uncertain ownership change, but it’s conducting business as usual in that it continues to recast itself as a high-tech outfit. In its most recent example, it has invested in a Silicon Valley firm specializing in artificial intelligence (AI) for driverless cars. The company’s Fluxunit venture capital arm… Continue reading Osram invests in driverless car AI company – LEDs Magazine
Ford CEO: We were disrupting the auto industry long before Elon Musk – CNN
The auto industry is going through massive change — and Tesla and its outspoken CEO, Elon Musk, are seen as the great disruptors. But as Ford CEO Jim Hackett pointed out during a recent interview for CNN Business’ The Table with Poppy Harlow in Detroit, his company caused, arguably, the biggest industrial disruption of the… Continue reading Ford CEO: We were disrupting the auto industry long before Elon Musk – CNN
Automotive supplier: Small sensation on Continentals Techshow: a half full hybrid
Tire bearings from Continental The profit of the supplier has recently declined significantly. (Photo: AP) Dusseldorf has on its annual tech show Continental presented a small sensation: a newly developed 48-volt mild hybrid drive, which differs from conventional electric drives with a voltage of 48 volts. With it, vehicles can be moved purely electrically up… Continue reading Automotive supplier: Small sensation on Continentals Techshow: a half full hybrid