We are pleased to announce that VMS has completed its series B investment in Changsha Intelligent Driving Institute Ltd. (“CiDi” or the “Company”). CiDi focuses on developing autonomous driving solution for specialty cars, including mining trucks and cleaning vehicles, and internet of vehicles solution for smart vehicles. The Company’s RMB 300mil series B financing was led by its early stage investor XinDing Capital. Other earlier round investors such as Legend Star and Baidu Ventures also participated in this round of financing, in addition to co-investors such as VMS, Chuang He Hui Mao, Unifortune, Xingxiang Investment and Wolong Investment.

Following the investments of Pony.ai and TuSimple (Nasdaq:TSP), participation in CiDi’s financing further signifies VMS’s focus and commitment towards the autonomous driving space. We are convinced this will allow us to grasp the opportunities from the secular growth trend of smart vehicles, artificial intelligence and transformation of automobile value chain. Industrial demand for driverless trucks in mining sector has been prevalent and is accelerated by the stringent safety requirements on mining sites, more practical commercialization scenarios and difficulties in mining personnel recruitment. Major mining companies including FMG and Rio Tinto have already started large-scale adoption of driverless trucks in mining areas overseas. FMG has even planned to develop fully autonomous mining for all its mine sites in the future. On the other hand, the successful commercialization of many Level 2/3 assisted driving and Level 4 autonomous driving companies has intensified the increasing needs for internet of vehicles network and technologies. We expect government orders for this will significantly increase in the near future.

CiDi was founded by Professor Li Zexiang of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He participated in the establishment and incubation of several well-known national robotics companies such as Googol Technology, DJI, and Li Qun Automation. The Company’s business is highly aligned with government policy. So far, the accumulated value of signed orders has reached several hundreds of millions of RMB, which proves strong execution capability of the team and its deep relationship with local governments.

Professor Li Zexiang is a Professor of Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He participated in the establishment and incubation of several well-known national robotics companies such as Googol Technology, DJI, and Li Qun Automation 

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