Xiaomi acquires autonomous driving start-up

Smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has announced the acquisition of startup Deepmotion for $77 million. Deepmotion was founded four years ago and develops driver assistance software, Bloomberg reports. The purchase of Deepmotion is expected to aid Xiaomi’s developments in fully autonomous driving, according to Xiaomi executive Wang Xiang. The acquisition comes in tandem with Xiaomi’s expansion into the EV sector. The plan is to invest ten billion U.S. dollars in the field over the next decade. Xiaomi overtook US-company Apple as the second-largest smartphone maker for the first time during the second quarter of 2021. Net profit rose by 80 percent to the equivalent of nearly 1.1 billion euros. nib