Didi obtains license for autonomous driving road tests in Suzhou

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- China’s ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing’s autonomous driving unit obtained a license for road tests on September 26 from the Municipal Public Security Bureau of Suzhou, a major city located in southeastern Jiangsu Province of East China, about 100 km (62 mi) northwest of Shanghai. Didi has set up a R&D team in Suzhou to carry out relevant research.

Before this, Didi has been qualified for road tests in California, Beijing and Shanghai. On Sep. 16, it received one of the first batch of “Shanghai ICV Application Demonstration Licenses”.        

(Photo source: Didi Chuxing)

Since DiDi’s autonomous driving team was established in 2016, it has grown to a comprehensive R&D team covering areas including HD mapping, perception, behavior prediction, planning and control, infrastructure and simulation, labeling, problem diagnosis, vehicle modifications, connected car, and security, among others. The team is developing and testing autonomous driving vehicles in China and the United States, with over 200 staff in total. 

Recently, Didi has been active in the field of autonomous driving. Didi on August 5 claimed that its autonomous driving arm has been upgraded into an independent company to focus on R&D, product application and other business pertaining to autonomous driving.

DiDi's CTO Zhang Bo and Meng Xing, former Executive Director at Shunwei China Internet Fund head the new company as its CEO and COO respectively. Besides, the self-driving R&D teams in the U.S. and China are led by Jia Zhaoyin and Zheng Jianqiang respectively. 

The expected autonomous vehicle’s deployment will have great impact on the mobility market. Consequently, the importance attached on this emerging segment cannot be overemphasized.