Didi co-founder and CEO Cheng Wei Photo by World Economic Forum / Sikarin Fon Thanachaiary via CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license

Didi Chuxing has spun off its self-driving unit into an independent company that’ll focus on R&D, product application and business development. The Chinese ride-hailing giant made this known in a recent announcement. The independent self-driving unit will be led by Didi’s CTO Bob Zhang. Zhang will simultaneously serve as CTO of Didi and as CEO of the self-driving unit.

Didi’s now independent self-driving unit also has three other top executives: Meng Xing, a former Executive Director at the Shunwei China Internet Fund, who will serve as COO; and Jia Zhaoyin and Zheng Jianqiang who will head R&D in the U.S. and China respectively. All three executives will report to Zhang.

Didi CTO Bob Zhang Photo by Seb Daly / RISE via Sportsfile

Didi’s self-driving team was established in 2016, and has grown to more than 200 staff currently. The team does R&D work on various self-driving related fields, including HD mapping, data labeling, security, behavior prediction, perception, infrastructure and simulation, problem diagnosis, vehicle modifications, planning and control and more. Just north of two months ago, Didi got approval to test self-driving vehicles in the state of California, and is doing that in both the U.S. and China.

Didi’s newly independent self-driving unit will also work with transportation authorities and related parties to explore safety standards for self-driving vehicles. “The new company looks forward to further strategic collaborations with auto makers and industry partners to promote the application of self-driving technologies in people’s everyday lives.” Didi CTO Bob Zhang said in a statement.

The forming of the independent self-driving unit comes shortly after Toyota invested $600 million in Didi.

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