“Woxiabai” cleared the ground near Beijing National Stadium in 2109.
Source: Visual China Group / Getty Images
Source: Visual China Group / Getty Images
Beijing Idriverplus Technology Co. plans a new round of fundraising for the new year and may consider an initial public offering in China, founder Said Zhang Dezhao.
The five-year-old startup, which develops autonomous driving technologies, has deployed vehicle fleets nicknamed Woxiaobai garbage, or small white snail, which can be used for street cleaning in cities like Beijing and Shanghai. Several hundred autonomous firefighting trucks of the company are already working in northeast China and Inner Mongolia, and the robot taxi will soon be robotized in Nanjing and Chongqing, Zhang said.
Idriverplus is one of dozens of high-tech companies in China competing to develop technologies that will ultimately transform one of life’s most ubiquitous tasks: driving a car. Smartly connected vehicles with some form of automation will account for more than 50% of new vehicle sales in 2025, according to a national technology roadmap. presented in November.
“The United States remains the best in automatic driving algorithms, but in terms of applications, China leads all other countries,” following the government’s push to develop smartly connected cars, Zhang said.
Zhang, 36, predicts cars that will one day have the ability to connect other aspects of people’s lives outside of driving, such as being able to order eggs if the home refrigerator indicates they run out or communicate with vehicles. owned by other families. members. He founded the company after completing his doctorate in Tsinghua University which focused on autonomous driving.
Idriverplus has raised about $ 100 million to date, Zhang said. Investors include Baidu Inc. i JD.com Inc., according to Crunchbase.
“Self-driving vehicles will become the ultimate living space for humans,” Zhang said, adding that he hopes Idriverplus can break in 2021. “The journey to full automation is a marathon and we are just five kilometers from the start line “.
– With the assistance of John Liu and Ying Tian