DeepRoute.ai scores $300 million in B-round led by Alibaba

Beijing (Gasgoo)- On September 14th, China’s autonomous driving startup, DeepRoute.ai announced it has raised $300 million via its B-round of financing, which was led by Alibaba Group, with participation from Jeneration Capital, FOSUN RZ Capital, Yunqi Partners, and Glory Ventures.

the DeepRoute.ai fleet; photo credit: DeepRoute.ai

According to DeepRoute.ai’s CEO, Zhou Guang, the B-round funds will be put to its R&D, team expansion, and enlarging the scale of its autonomous testing and operation fleet. DeepRoute.ai has already started a trial operation of its RoboTaxis in Shenzhen. This year, the company will be pushing its autonomous driving application in urban logistics. DeepRoute.ai will realize the commercialization of its driverless technology by combing the strength of the company's investors and partners. 

Autonomous driving is leading the technology reformation in the world. As one of leading companies in the field, DeepRoute.ai is rivaling against Pony.ai, WeRide, Didi Autonomous Driving, Baidu Apollo, Momenta, and AutoX.

DeepRoute.ai possesses numerous innovative self-developed technology and product advantages. It also accumulated great road-test mileage and operation experience in core areas in many Chinese cities, partner and chief investment officer of Jeneration Capital, Tan Hainan said.

DeepRoute.ai also announced its “123N” three-year business strategy. “1” means to build a set of autonomous driving system. “2” represents the two focal points of the company, namely autonomous transportation, and autonomous city-wide freight service. “3” is the three production standards the company follows, safe, reliable, and intelligent. “N” signals the multi-scenario diverse application of autonomous driving technology.

Founded in 2019, DeepRoute.ai has successively opened up autonomous driving testing and trial operations in Shenzhen, Wuhan, and Hangzhou. During the time, DeepRoute.ai has accumulated over 2 million kilometers of testing and operating mileages and achieved rapid technology innovation and iteration. The company intends to expand its self-operated RoboTaxi fleet to 1 million vehicles by the end of 2021 and 1.5 million in total, including co-operated vehicles.

DeepRoute.ai believes that the in-city freight industry will be the first to realize autonomous driving commercialization. The government advocates this application aspect, as it is safer and more stable to transport cargo on a fixed route than transferring people to various destinations. In order to obtain a head start in the field, DeepRoute.ai has been testing its unmanned light trucks for almost a year now, rounding 2 million kilometers of road-test in three cities.

Adding the B-round funding, DeepRoute.ai has received roughly $400 million in financing since its establishment, with $1 billion in market value, thus confirming its place in China’s autonomous driving field.