SoftBank Leads $500 Million Funding for Didi Autonomous Unit

Didi Chuxing has scored more than $500 million of funding for its autonomous driving division in a round led by the SoftBank Vision Fund, the first external investment in the Chinese ride-hailing giant’s fledgling self-driving subsidiary.

The deal is the largest ever within China’s autonomous driving industry, the company said in an emailed statement. Didi, one of SoftBank Group Corp.’s largest portfolio companies, began testing autonomous vehicles in 2016 before hiving off the business into a separate company in 2019. The Chinese company didn’t specify a valuation.