Volvo supplies cars to the autonomous vehicle division in Didi |
A new agreement between the two companies indicates that Volvo will deliver the vehicles to the autonomous taxi fleet in Didi.
The Swedish automaker is owned by Geely, the largest private automaker in China, which supplies the XC90 to Didi's autonomous technology unit.
Diddy said he would later start automated commercial taxi operations that will use Volvo cars.
The company has been testing its technology independently in Shanghai since 2019 in a trial approved by the Chinese government.
Volvo and Uber have agreed to launch a batch of self-driving taxis by 2019. However, the plan was scrapped after the Uber XC90 test car killed an Arizona pedestrian in 2017.
However, the Swedish automaker had a collaborative relationship with Uber's autonomous driving division and announced a joint autonomous driving version of the Volvo XC90 in 2019.
Last year, under pressure from investors, Uber sold its autonomous driving division to independent startup Aurora.
According to Volvo, Dede vehicles are equipped with reversing systems, which are essential for functions such as steering and braking.
Uber has disabled these features in self-driving SUVs such as automatic emergency braking. In 2017, Uber killed some pedestrians in Arizona.
Didi isn't the only company to use Swedish Volvo cars as part of its robot fleet.
Wimo, Google's autonomous driving division, announced last year that it would become the exclusive global partner for Volvo and its subsidiary brands Polestar and Lynk & Co.
Volvo also plans to sell self-driving cars to its customers that will be equipped with LIDAR sensors from the US start-up Luminar.
The automaker said: Its cars can cross the highway on their own without human intervention and will arrive from 2022.
Didi started his ride-sharing business in China in 2012 and earned $ 1 billion from Apple in 2016.
In the booming Chinese shared transportation market, it competed strongly with Uber and captured a 17.7% stake in Didi Chuxing through Uber's business in China. He is a member of the company’s board of directors.
Didi has also invested in several of Uber's competitors, including Lyft, Ola, Grab, Taxify, and Careem. Didi expanded to Mexico in 2018, further strengthening its global rivalry with Uber.