Xiaomi To Acquire Self-Driving Startup Deepmotion For $77.3 Million

Xiaomi has announced that it is acquiring self-driving start-up Deepmotion for $77.3 million. This acquisition is part of the Chinese smartphone maker's audacious plan of investing in $10 billion in the electric vehicle space. In 2021, Xiaomi became the world's second largest smartphone maker by sales and in the last couple of months it temporarily overtook even Samsung, as the Korean company has been struggling with some supply chain issues. Xiaomi joins Chinese majors like Baidu, Huawei, Alibaba, SAIC. BYD and Didi Chuxing all of whom are investing in autonomous cars. It can be argued Baidu and Alibaba backed AutoX are the furthest along followed by Didi Chuxing. Huawei is aiming more to be a supplier of technology than being an end-to-end customer.

Xiaomi already makes the Ninebot C30 electric scooter

Xiaomi has an obvious advantage that it can leverage its vast retail network and international brand for selling cars. It can even embed its portfolio of connected smart products like smart speakers and AI in these cars and differentiate from a software perspective.

It also helps that electric and autonomous cars are closer to phones and gadgets as they depend on cameras, computing, batteries and AI infused software, but still even for Xiaomi this will be a herculean bet. Xiaomi of course believes the addition of Deepmotion will accelerate its entry into this segment. China is also a market where autonomous cars have taken off in areas like Guagzhou and Shenzhen, so it makes sense for Xiaomi to enter the space.