Didi has raised over 10 billion yuan in independent financing and continues to bet big on autonomous driving.
DiDi Autonomous Driving Secures Another 2 Billion Yuan in Financing, Continuing to Ramp up the "Heavy Asset" Model.
On October 11th, DiDi Autonomous Driving announced the completion of a Series D financing round, raising a total of 2 billion yuan. The investors include Zhongguancun Science City Technology Growth Fund, Beijing Information Industry Development Investment Fund, Beijing Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund, GAC Group, Guangzhou Guanghua Fund, and DiDi.
The funds will be used to increase investment in AI R & D and promote the implementation of L4 autonomous driving applications, contributing to the high - quality development of the transportation industry.
From the perspective of the participating investors, the participation of state - owned funds from Beijing and Guangzhou provides strong government endorsement for DiDi. This is not only a high recognition of DiDi's technological accumulation but also provides a valuable and important validation opportunity for its "self - developed technology + vehicle cooperation + commercial operation" heavy - asset model.
As one of the largest mobility companies in China and globally, DiDi has raised funds at least five times in the autonomous driving field, with a total amount exceeding 10 billion yuan. This sends a clear signal that DiDi is determined to have a share in autonomous driving businesses such as Robotaxi and Robotruck.
01
Transition from Vehicle Manufacturing + Autonomous Driving to Autonomous Driving
After the ride - hailing war, DiDi emerged victorious and its leading position has become extremely stable. DiDi has also been thinking about and planning its future direction.
As early as 2016, DiDi started planning for autonomous driving and established an R & D team for it.
At the same time, DiDi also explored the possibility of vehicle manufacturing. It once tried to cooperate with companies such as Li Auto and BYD in automobile - related businesses. Later, it even considered independent vehicle manufacturing, but none of these attempts achieved the expected results.
It was not until around August 2023, when DiDi sold its intelligent electric vehicle assets to XPeng Motors, that a clearer future layout became evident, shifting towards areas such as Robotaxi and driverless trucks.
DiDi and XPeng signed a strategic cooperation agreement in August 2023
However, DiDi has been quite low - key and has not disclosed much information in the autonomous driving field. Its few public appearances were mainly at the Autonomous Driving Open Day event held in April 2023 and the GAC Technology Day & GAC Intelligent Safety Summit in 2025.
In April 2023, at the first Autonomous Driving Open Day held by DiDi, it officially launched the RoboTaxi concept car DiDi NEURON and the industry's first autonomous driving operation and maintenance center - Huiju Port.
Regarding the new vehicle, DiDi's first customized model for autonomous driving is equipped with 21 cameras, 8 lidars, and 6 millimeter - wave radars. The driver's seat is removed to maximize the passenger space. In addition, the Neuron features an in - car robotic arm, which acts as a "butler" in the era of driverless driving, providing services such as carrying luggage, handing out water, and waking up passengers.
DiDi NEURON concept car
In April this year, at the 2025 GAC Technology Day & GAC Intelligent Safety Summit, DiDi launched the Autonomous Driving Hardware Platform 4.0. This is the industry's first mass - producible, three - domain integrated vehicle central computing brain that integrates the intelligent driving domain, cockpit domain, and communication and navigation domain, with higher performance and lower latency. The GPU computing power of this computing platform exceeds 2000 TOPS, and the CPU has 48 cores. The sensor access capability is twice that of the previous - generation computing platform. At the same time, the hardware integration and assembly efficiency are significantly improved. The available volume of the trunk is increased by 88%, the cost is significantly reduced by 74%, and the assembly efficiency is increased by 7 times.
In terms of implementation, in early 2023, DiDi Autonomous Driving launched the first 24/7 autonomous driving service operation and maintenance center in China - Huiju Port, which can automatically meet the vehicle's needs during operation. The vehicles can automatically leave the port, accept orders, and return to the port. Robots can also intelligently wash, charge, detect, repair, maintain, and park the vehicles. The automation rate of the entire process has reached 90%.
In September this year, the autonomous driving vehicle jointly developed by DiDi Autonomous Driving and GAC Aion completed the summer tests in Turpan. Through repeated tests under continuous high - temperature, intense sunlight, complex road conditions, and high - output load conditions, the thermal management system, high - and low - voltage power supply systems, sensor suites, air - conditioning, and battery life have always performed stably and reliably. This L4 - level vehicle is planned to be delivered by the end of 2025 and will then be used for demonstration applications in Beijing, Guangzhou, and other places.
In addition to the passenger - carrying business, DiDi has extended its L4 - level autonomous driving technology to the trunk logistics and freight field. It established a subsidiary, Karl Power, to engage in autonomous driving truck freight services. As early as 2023, Karl Power had carried out regular trial operations between Tianjin and Inner Mongolia.
02
Deepening Cooperation with GAC
During DiDi's development of autonomous driving, GAC Group has been actively involved, with in - depth cooperation in both industry and capital.
In 2019, DiDi's autonomous driving department was upgraded to an independent company, officially starting large - scale financing.
DiDi Autonomous Driving completed its first - round financing in 2020, led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, raising more than $500 million (equivalent to approximately 3.568 billion yuan). In 2021, the company completed another round of financing of $300 million (equivalent to approximately 2.14 billion yuan), with investors including well - known institutions such as IDG Capital, CPE, and Paulson.
Since then, the cooperation between DiDi and GAC has become increasingly close. In 2023, DiDi Autonomous Driving successfully raised $149 million (equivalent to approximately 1.063 billion yuan). The investors were GAC Capital and Guangzhou Development Zone Investment Group.
Last October, DiDi's autonomous driving team completed a Series C financing round of $298 million (equivalent to approximately 2.126 billion yuan). It was led by GAC Group.
With this new round of 2 billion yuan in financing, state - owned funds from Beijing and Guangzhou, as well as GAC, have invested again. Currently, the total amount of the five - round financing publicly disclosed by DiDi Autonomous Driving has exceeded 10 billion yuan, and its post - investment valuation may exceed $5 billion.
The participation of local state - owned funds provides important government endorsement for DiDi, reflecting both policy support for the autonomous driving industry and official recognition of its technological strength, industrial ecosystem, and implementation capabilities.
Source: Compiled from online materials
DiDi's industrial cooperation with GAC predates its capital cooperation.
As early as 2021, DiDi Autonomous Driving Company reached a strategic cooperation with GAC Aion to explore joint - venture and cooperation models in the intelligent vehicle field and planned to jointly launch a mass - producible L4 - level or higher autonomous driving vehicle.
As GAC's investment in DiDi has increased, their industrial cooperation has also deepened.
In May 2023, the two parties launched the "AIDI Plan" and announced the establishment of a joint - venture company. In April 2024, the joint - venture company "Guangzhou Andi Technology Co., Ltd." was officially established, with both parties holding a 50% stake. Zhang Xiong, the deputy general manager of GAC Aion, serves as the chairman, and Meng Xing, the COO of DiDi Autonomous Driving, serves as the general manager.
At the Shanghai Auto Show in April this year, the L4 - level Robotaxi jointly developed by the two parties made its debut. The vehicle is equipped with DiDi's latest hardware platform and 33 sensors, including lidars, cameras, and 4D millimeter - wave radars, enabling 360° all - condition perception. The new - generation 4D millimeter - wave radar uses the latest radar chip technology, with its performance improved by four times, and it can still maintain efficient perception in bad weather such as rain and snow.
The purpose of this cooperation is clear. In the expanding Robotaxi market, both parties can leverage their strengths to prepare for the upcoming opportunities.
03
Two Paths for Mobility Companies in Autonomous Driving
Among the mobility companies involved in the Robotaxi business, DiDi Autonomous Driving is the only one that conducts full - stack self - development. This makes DiDi's business model quite different from that of companies such as Uber and Lyft.
Uber and Lyft's Cooperation Model
As representatives of mobility platforms, Uber and Lyft have chosen the most stable light - asset path. After experiencing setbacks due to high self - development costs in the early stage, they completely shifted to a cooperation model with third - party autonomous driving companies.
Uber has reached cooperation agreements with companies such as Waymo, Motional, Pony.ai, and WeRide, integrating their Robotaxi services into its mobility platform.
Lyft has also cooperated with technology companies such as Motional, May Mobility, Ford and its partner Argo AI (historical cooperation), and Luobo Kuaipao, integrating their autonomous driving vehicles into Lyft's mobility network.
Under this model, Uber and Lyft provide traffic entrances and operation scenarios, while technology companies provide autonomous driving solutions. The advantages of this model are obvious: mobility companies do not need to bear huge R & D costs but can quickly expand the coverage of autonomous driving services and enrich their product portfolios.
However, the limitations of this model are also obvious. The core technology and transportation capacity are in the hands of partners, weakening their bargaining power in the industrial chain and squeezing their profit margins. More importantly, when all platforms integrate similar autonomous driving services, mobility platforms will fall into the dilemma of homogeneous competition again.
DiDi's Self - Development Model
In terms of technology, DiDi adheres to full - stack self - development, including core algorithms such as perception, prediction, decision - making, and control, as well as key hardware such as the "Beiyao" lidar and the "Orca" computing platform. This investment ensures its control over core technologies.
In the vehicle manufacturing process, due to the lack of vehicle manufacturing qualifications, DiDi chose to establish a 50 - 50 joint - venture company "Andi Technology" with GAC Aion to jointly develop mass - producible L4 - level vehicles. This in - depth cooperation model not only solves the manufacturing qualification problem but also ensures the in - depth integration of vehicles and technology.
In terms of commercialization, DiDi's greatest advantage lies in its large - scale mobility network. Through the "mixed dispatching" model, autonomous driving vehicles can be naturally integrated into the existing transportation capacity system, achieving a positive cycle of technological iteration and commercial revenue.
The benefits of DiDi's approach are obvious.
Self - development of core technologies ensures the company's leading position in the industrial chain. By self - developing full - stack technologies, DiDi has not only built a technological barrier but also gained the initiative in development.
However, DiDi also faces greater challenges.
Firstly, there is a large financial pressure. The R & D investment in autonomous driving is huge. According to industry estimates, leading companies invest billions of yuan in R & D every year. Although the 2 billion yuan in financing obtained this time is considerable, it may still be insufficient on the long - term commercialization path.
Secondly, the management complexity is high. Establishing a joint - venture company means that DiDi needs to coordinate multiple aspects such as technology R & D, vehicle manufacturing, and operation services, posing extremely high requirements for the company's management ability.
Thirdly, in terms of technology, the autonomous driving technology route has not fully converged, and there are risks in technology bets.
Meanwhile, competitors are still accelerating their progress. As of May 2025, Luobo Kuaipao has provided more than 11 million rides globally. Pony.ai and WeRide have also made progress in multiple scenarios.
Of course, as the largest and globally leading mobility company in China, DiDi's inherent advantages are obvious. With users and scenarios in hand, as long as it also has the technology in hand, excluding non - commercial factors, the Robotaxi business is a seamless extension for a mobility company.