Alibaba enters robotaxi market with investment in ride-hailing firm Hello
What's the story
Alibaba Group has made a strategic investment in Hello, a ride-hailing company backed by its fintech affiliate Ant Group. The move marks Alibaba's entry into the emerging robotaxi market, a lucrative domain for artificial intelligence applications. The amount of investment has not been disclosed by Hello. The partnership aims to work on algorithm platforms and smart driving large language models with an ultimate goal of commercializing and scaling operations of robotaxi fleets.
Global competition
Competition heating up in robotaxi space
Alibaba's investment comes at a time when tech giants from China and the US are racing to make driverless taxis commercially viable. Tesla has expanded its robotaxi trials in Texas and California, taking on Waymo, a self-driving taxi service backed by Google's parent company Alphabet. Meanwhile, Chinese search engine Baidu's robotaxi unit Apollo Go has completed over 11 million rides globally as of August.
Strategic move
Alibaba's investment boosts Hello's position in the market
Alibaba's investment in Hello comes after the latter launched its own robotaxi model, the Hello Robot1 vehicle. The move intensifies competition with domestic rivals and shows Alibaba's commitment to this new market. As part of the deal, both companies will develop vision, voice and large language AI models along with special models for vertical applications and "intelligent" cockpits.
R&D responsibilities
Alibaba Cloud to lead technical R&D
Alibaba Cloud, the tech giant's AI and cloud services unit, will spearhead the technical research and development as well as algorithm iteration. The focus will be on optimizing user experience and enhancing operational efficiency. This strategic investment by Alibaba into Hello is a major step in its efforts to capitalize on the growing demand for autonomous vehicles in China and beyond.