Chinese robocar maker plans hunt for fresh capital in new year
(Bloomberg) — Beijing Idriverplus Technology Co. plans a fresh fundraising round in the new year and may eye an initial public offering in China, founder Zhang Dezhao said.
The five-year-old startup, which develops autonomous driving technologies, has deployed fleets of robosweepers nicknamed Woxiaobai, or little white snail, that can be used for street cleaning in cities including Beijing and Shanghai. Several hundred of the company’s autonomous fire-fighting trucks are already at work in China’s northeast and Inner Mongolia, and robotaxis will soon be trialed in Nanjing and Chongqing, Zhang said.