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In 2024, Deeproute.ai, a Shenzhen robotaxi startup with $350 million in funding and over 500 employees, will open an operations center in Germany. The move will make it another Chinese mobility startup to open in Germany, home to some of the world’s largest automakers.
A few Chinese mobility players announced the plan at the International Motor Show Germany in Munich this week. The Alibaba-backed company will launch its production-ready autonomous driving solution in Germany next year, followed by other European markets.
Drive 3.0, the solution, works without HD maps and has valet park assist at a $2,000 hardware price thanks to Chinese lidar suppliers. It uses Nvidia’s Drive Orin SoC.
Deeproute told it would hire a business development team at the “operations center” but didn’t elaborate. It doesn’t know which city will host the new base, but there are several obvious options.
Two years ago, Deeproute’s Suzhou-based competitor Momenta opened an office in Stuttgart. Momenta could strengthen ties with its investor Mercedes-Benz, based in the German city, and other European OEMs after the decision.
Nio, a Chinese premium electric vehicle startup that develops its own ADAS technology, has a 1,500-sqm Berlin innovation center and a Munich design facility. It operates “Nio House,” the EV maker’s chic members’ club and showroom in Berlin.
Deeproute, like other ambitious Chinese AV startups, started with Level 4 driverless technologies to power robotaxis but now offers less advanced driving solutions for auto partners to generate more cash flow.
Deeproute stated that “as we’ve been working with OEMs on mass production since last year, we shifted our focus from robotaxi to production-ready car road testing.” Deeproute had over 800,000 passenger rides by 2022, mostly on its robotaxis in major Chinese cities.
Having a presence in Germany will help it expand its OEM customer base, which includes Seres and Geely. A local business development team will allow Deeproute to “connect with more local automakers, support OEM partners on smart driving mass production, and etc.,” a company representative said. See if more Chinese robotaxi companies enter Germany.
