AutoAI offers personalized entertainment and information for the connected car. The platform also helps with the search for parking spaces, informs about cheap petrol stations near the vehicle and can also offer insurance services. There is also a telematics box, a vehicle-optimized version of the Android operating system and cloud-based data solutions.
The investors
Now, the venture capital company of the Bosch Group, Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH (RBVC), has participated in AutoAI. The Series A financing round has a total volume of $ 104 million. Bosch does not comment on the level of investment it has acquired with the Chinese Internet conglomerate Tencent, the carrier Didi, NIO Capital and the Taiwanese technology group Advantech.
In nine months grown to 1,000 employees
AutoAI was founded in April 2018 and claims to have close to 1,000 employees in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Dalian and Shenyang. The startup is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the map provider NavInfo, which also holds a minority stake in German map provider Here. AutoAI works with vehicle manufacturers, industrial customers and ecosystem partners to provide services for the next generation of autonomous vehicles.
According to Bosch, the market research firm PWC expects the connected car market to grow from $ 0.6 billion in 2017 to $ 39.5 billion in 2030. Startup CEO Jing Muhan said, “RBVC’s investment will help AutoAI become more competitive and provide automakers with high-quality Internet of Vehicles (IoV) services.”
Also published on Medium.