China's Didi opens R&D centre in US to attract global talent

Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing today opened a new research and development centre in the US' Silicon Valley to attract top engineering talent.
The DIDI Labs in Mountain View, California will primarily focus on big-data-based security and intelligent driving technology, and are a landmark step for the company to create a global innovation nexus.
"Sweeping changes are taking place in the global transport and automobile industries," Cheng Wei, founder, chairman and CEO of the company said, adding that they would build on rich data and fast-evolving artificial intelligence analytics to work with cities to build intelligent transport ecosystems for the future.

Didi, backed by Apple, has emerged as the single biggest car-haling app after Uber merged its operation with it last year in a deal valued at about USD 35 billion.
Cheng said that Didi's international vision now extends to building the best-in-class international research network to advance the global transport revolution through innovation, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.
Didi's current projects span cloud-based security, deep learning, human-machine interaction, computer vision and imaging, as well as intelligent driving technology.
The US labs will work in tandem with the broader Didi research network to advance its global strategy, apply its research findings and help cities develop smart transport.

In the next decade, Didi aims to lead innovation in the optimisation of transportation infrastructure, introduce new energy vehicles and intelligent driving systems and shift the human-automotive relationship from ownership to shared access, Didi's chief technology officer Bob Zhang said.