The Chinese autonomous driving startup Deepmotion has been acquired by Xiaomi for about $77.37 million
The acquisition would assist “improve the technological competitiveness” of the company’s electric car business, according to the company.
With this move, Xiaomi positions itself to compete with other autonomous driving and electric car companies, such as Tesla and Waymo in the United States and Baidu in China.
The statement follows Xiaomi’s March announcement that it will invest $10 billion in its forthcoming electric car industry over the next ten years. “Xiaomi wants to deliver great smart electric vehicles to allow everyone across the world to enjoy smart life anytime, anywhere,” the company said at the time.
Xiaomi announced the acquisition following the release of financial results for the second quarter of 2021. The company’s sales reached new highs of 87.8 billion yuan ($13.5) million. Xiaomi surpassed Apple to become the world’s second largest smartphone seller in July, and it also became the largest smartphone vendor in Europe in the second quarter. While smartphones account for the majority of the company’s income, Xiaomi has been active in expanding into other goods such as TVs, smart watches, and electric scooters.
