Chinese autonomous vehicle startup secures major funding round to accelerate deployment of driver assistance systems
One of China’s leading developers of autonomous driving technology, DeepRoute, has raised $100 million in a funding round led by an undisclosed Chinese automaker. The startup is aiming to rapidly expand the rollout of its advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to hundreds of thousands of vehicles over the next year.
DeepRoute CEO Maxwell Zhou revealed to sources that the company intends to have its technologies installed in around 200,000 vehicles across China by the end of 2025. This ambitious target represents a ten-fold increase from the 20,000 vehicles currently equipped with DeepRoute’s systems.
The additional capital will allow DeepRoute to scale up operations to meet this aggressive timeline. It will fund the integration of the startup’s ADAS onto new car models set for release in the coming months. One such vehicle that recently launched in August was the first to include DeepRoute’s suite of autonomous driving capabilities. At least two more models are planned before the end of the year from a major Chinese automaker co-owned by Geely and Mercedes-Benz.
Experts note the timing of this large funding round appears to be a direct response to recent regulatory changes in China that pave the way for increased adoption of advanced autonomous vehicle technologies. Specifically, Tesla received approval earlier this year to deploy its much-hyped Full Self-Driving (FSD) software in the valuable Chinese market starting in the first quarter of 2025.
Faced with imminent competition from Tesla’s entrada, DeepRoute is mobilizing its resources in an effort to gain substantial market share and make its ADAS the platform of choice among both automakers and consumers in China ahead of FSD’s arrival. The company generates ongoing revenue through technology licensing agreements with automaker partners on a per-vehicle basis, and collects vast amounts of real-world driving data to continuously improve its AI systems.
DeepRoute’s new funding positions the company at the forefront of China’s autonomous vehicle sector and sets the stage for what is expected to be an intense race to dominate advanced driver assistance in the world’s largest car market.
