Chinese Startup DeepRoute.ai Raises $100 Million To Expand Autonomous Driving Systems

The Chinese autonomous driving company DeepRoute.ai raised $100 million from an automaker for mass adoption of its autonomous driving system. The name of the Chinese investor has not been revealed yet.

Maxwell Zhou, DeepRoute.ai CEO, told Reuters in an interview shared this Monday that they expect to equip 200,000 cars with their advanced technology by the end of 2025, and they currently have 20,000 vehicles with the system.

The Shenzhen-based start-up launched this August a Full Self-Driving (FSD) program, similar to Tesla’s, in China, where Elon Musk—Tesla’s CEO—also expects to deploy his technology soon.

But Zhou doesn’t seem to be afraid of this competition and he considers his company to have an advantage in the market. “China has more complicated traffic situations with pedestrians walking on motorways and millions of scooters rushing to deliver their goods,” said Zhou in the interview and added that they expect to expand to other regions like the Middle East, Europe, and Southeast Asia by 2027 or 2028 depending on the market opportunities.

The company expects to develop 10 different models to offer options to its clients in 2025. One of the current customers is a new brand co-owned by Mercedes Benz and Geely, they expect to launch the first vehicles with DeepRoute.ai’s technology by the end of the year.

The startup, founded in 2019, is also backed by the tech giant Alibaba. Its current valuation has not been disclosed either.

Other Chinese autonomous vehicle startups have been developing and expanding their technologies. WeRide made its initial public offering in the U.S. market a few days ago, raising a total of $440.5 million.