Alibaba remains firm in its commitment to autonomous driving. The Chinese e-commerce giant has set its sights this time on a company called DeepRoute.ai, currently dedicated to robotaxis but with aspirations to enter the world of urban logistics. In this way, the company founded by Jack Ma has led an investment of 300 million dollars together with the company Jeneration Capital Management and the car manufacturer Geely.
The CEO of DeepRoute.ai has stated that “much of the money will be invested to develop the technology, and the rest to expand the fleet” of its robotaxis, which currently operates with 70 with the goal of expanding it between 150 and 160. He also confirmed that its long-term strategy includes the development of autonomous city delivery trucks with a medium load capacity.
This new project underscores Alibaba’s ambition to establish itself in this type of Chinese tech sector, as it did previously with self-driving company AutoX, which focuses on robotaxis; and the manufacturer of electric vehicles, XPeng, one of Tesla’s great rivals along with Nio or Lucid Motors.
In addition to this, Alibaba also intends to manufacture autonomous delivery trucks with its logistics subsidiary Cainiao. All of this comes as automakers and tech companies are pouring billions into autonomous driving, aiming to take the lead in what many see as the future of mobility.
Lucid, the new Tesla?
On the other hand, Bank of America analyst John Murphy indicated that Lucid Motors, a company dedicated to the manufacture of electric vehicles, could represent a threat to other emerging companies such as Tesla . For Murphy, Lucid has many of the ingredients necessary for success, including its “innovative technology, compelling product, compelling brand, and impressive management.”
One of the differentiating aspects of Lucid is its autonomy, a key concept for buyers, given the difficulties with the charging infrastructure in most countries, and even in the United States. In particular, the limited edition Air Dream Edition can reach 830 kilometers on a full charge, which would surpass the Tesla Model S by almost 200 kilometers, which for years has dominated this section.
