Chinese ride-hailer Didi and automaker GAC to deliver L4 autonomous vehicles this year

Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi and state-owned automaker GAC will start volume deliveries of their L4 autonomous vehicles by the end of this year, with passengers able to hail a robocar in parts of Beijing and the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou in 2026. Zhang Bo, co-founder of Didi and chief executive of Didi’s autonomous driving business, revealed the developments in comments during GAC’s annual Tech Day event on April 12 in Guangzhou, where GAC is headquartered. The companies had unveiled their autonomous driving vehicle back in early 2023 and this was followed by a $298 million funding round into Didi’s self-driving unit led by GAC last October. GAC, which has been authorized to test Level 3 semi-autonomous cars by the government in China, will also begin sales of such vehicles in the fourth quarter of this year, chairman and president Feng Xingya said during the event. [TechNode reporting, Didi announcement, in Chinese]