Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing is collaborating with state-owned automaker GAC Motor Co. to develop and build a self-driving electric vehicle for mass production.
Under a deal signed this week, a joint venture will be formed between Didi’s autonomous driving arm and GAC’s EV subsidiary, GAC Aion.
The JV will develop a driverless autonomous EV “for large-scale commercial application with the aim of entering accelerated mass production through innovating across primary areas such as the drive-by-wire system, self-driving sensors and system integration,” Didi said.
Additional details about the EV were not disclosed.
GAC is the second automaker Didi has partnered with this year to jointly develop self-driving vehicles.
In April, Didi inked a deal with Volvo Car Corp. to adapt Volvo XC90 SUVs and include them in its self-driving test fleet in China.
Under the deal, Volvo will provide XC90s fitted with backup systems for functions such as steering and braking, while Didi will load additional software and hardware in the vehicles to enable autonomous driving.