DiDi's autonomous driving subsidiary has set up a safety work administration to systematize and normalize the safety management businesses for autonomous driving R&D, testing and operation, according to a local media outlet.
Zhang Bo, CEO of DiDi's autonomous driving company, will serve the director of the newly-built administrative unit.
Currently, DiDi has obtained open-road self-driving testing licenses in Beijing, Shanghai and Suzhou in China, as well as California in the U.S., including one of the first licenses applied to the demonstration of manned autonomous driving tests in Shanghai.
According to earlier reports, the Chinese ride-hailing giant will launch self-driving Robotaxi service in Shanghai this year. The safety work administration is said to be established to pave the way for DiDi's future larger-scale autonomous driving R&D and tests.
“Improving the road safety is the original intention of DiDi's R&D on autonomous driving, while safeguarding the R&D, tests and operation is the foremost task,” said Zhangbo.
DiDi announced on May 29 it has closed a fundraising round of over $500 million for its autonomous driving subsidiary.
DiDi said the round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and signifies the first time that DiDi's autonomous driving unit obtained external funding support after it was separated as an independent company.
The money raised will be used to help the subsidiary strengthen R&D and testing, deepen the cooperation with industrial partners, and promote the application of passenger-carrying autonomous cars in domestic and overseas specific areas, in a bid to improve the travelling safety and efficiency.
After the money being put in place, DiDi will beef up the investment in such areas as autonomous driving, vehicle-road cooperation and relevant AI technologies, and explore the practical usage of those technical fruits.
