DiDi Autonomous Driving, the self-driving technology arm of DiDi Global, has raised another $149 million in a Series C financing round, led by Chinese state-owned automobile manufacturer GAC Group, per an announcement.
The recent funding comes as an addition a year after GAC Group disclosed in its exchange filing in October 2023 that the automobile firm together with state-owned firm Guangzhou Development District Investment Group would inject no more than $149 million into the autonomous driving unit.
GAC Group told local news outlet Lanjinger on Wednesday that the investment that the firm announced last October was part of Didi Autonomous Driving’s $298 million Series-C funding.
The Series C round, which also saw the participation of DiDi Global, will help the company expand its self-driving unit’s R&D investment towards autonomous driving technology, and help it facilitate the commercialisation of its first robotaxi.
The news comes six months after the joint venture between GAC Aion New Energy Automobile (a subsidiary of GAC Group) and DiDi Autonomous Driving obtained a business licence in April. The JV plans to produce its self-driving robotaxi model in 2025.
Set up in 2016, DiDi Autonomous Driving became an independent company in August 2019 to focus on advanced autonomous driving technology research and development, product application and other related businesses, according to its company website. So far, the firm has obtained acquired public road-testing licences across several cities in China including Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Hefei, and Guangzhou, as well as in California, US.
GAC Group’s investment in DiDi Autonomous Driving signifies the state-owned carmaker’s ambition towards the autonomous driving sector. Most recently, the carmaker’s board of directors agreed to invest $27 million into self-driving firm Pony.ai per a stock exchange filing by the auto group on Oct 11. The same filing also disclosed GAC’s plan to invest up to 550 million yuan ($77.8 million) in Chenzhi Technology in exchange for a 30% stake in the smart wire control chassis maker.
