China’s robotaxis charged ahead in 2021

Autonomous driving startups in China are in an arms race to put passengers in their machine-driven vehicles. Every few weeks, news arrives that another major player has got the greenlight to launch a new pilot program or a small-scale service. These press releases, often dotted with regulatory jargon and flowery language to aggrandize the companies’ […]

Waymo partners with Geely to make electric AVs for ride hail in the US

Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous driving technology arm, is partnering with Chinese automaker Geely to build an all-electric, self-driving ride-hailing vehicle. The companies will integrate Waymo Driver, Waymo’s AV system, into Geely’s Zeekr vehicles for use in U.S. markets “in the years to come.” While Waymo is not providing a specific time frame for either the start […]

Autonomous driving startup Deeproute.ai prices L4 solution at $10,000

Deeproute.ai, an autonomous vehicle startup with offices in Shenzhen and Fremont, California, unveiled an ambitious self-driving solution on Wednesday. The package, named DeepRoute-Driver 2.0, is a production-ready Level 4 system that costs approximately $10,000. The price tag is incredible given the hardware used: five solid-state lidar sensors, eight cameras, a proprietary computing system, and an […]

Baidu’s robotaxi service aims to be in 100 cities by 2030

Baidu keeps ramping up its autonomous driving ambitions. The Chinese tech company made its name in search engines and still relies greatly on search ads for revenues. But it’s hoping that its heavy bet on autonomous driving will pay off down the road. Apollo Go, Baidu’s robotaxi service, aims to be in 65 cities by […]

Geely’s Volvo Cars will file for initial public offering on Stockholm’s Nasdaq

Volvo Cars, the Swedish carmaker owned by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding, said Monday it would file for an initial public offering and list on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange, in a transaction that’s expected to raise up to $2.9 billion (25 billion Swedish kroner). The deal could value the automaker at up to $25 billion, The […]

Swedish EV-maker Polestar reportedly preparing to go SPAC at $21B valuation

Swedish electric vehicle maker Polestar is reportedly preparing to go public via special purpose acquisition with Gores Guggenheim Inc., reports the Wall Street Journal citing people familiar with the matter. The SPAC deal, which sources say could be reached by Monday, would value Polestar at $21 billion. Polestar falls under Volvo Car Group’s electric performance […]

China Roundup: Beijing is tearing down the digital ‘walled gardens’

Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch’s China roundup, a digest of recent events shaping the Chinese tech landscape and what they mean to people in the rest of the world. This week, China gets serious about breaking down the walled gardens that its internet giants have formed for decades. Two major funding rounds were announced, […]

China roundup: Tencent takes on sites trying to circumvent its age limits

Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch’s China roundup, a digest of recent events shaping the Chinese tech landscape and what they mean to people in the rest of the world. The enforcement of China’s new gaming regulations is unfolding like a cat-and-mouse game, with the country’s internet giants and young players constantly trying to outsmart each […]

Geely’s ride-hailing unit Cao Cao Mobility raises $589M Series B to upgrade tech and expand fleet

Cao Cao Mobility, the ride-hailing unit of Chinese automaker Geely Automobile Holdings, has announced a $589 million (RMB 3.8 billion) Series B raise that the company says will help it upgrade its technology and expand its fleet, according to a statement released by the company (in Chinese). The raise, which Cao Cao announced on Monday, […]