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FUEL ALTERNATIVES
AUTONOMOUS RACING
One could be forgiven for thinking that Tesla is the only company in existence building autonomous, or self-driving, electric vehicles. The Elon Musk hype machine, fueled by the fanboys at Futurism and other tech sites, has been in overdrive lately.
The United States has not been the leader in the sales of electric vehicles since 2014. That title goes to China, where investments in Chinese self-driving and electric vehicle startups has accelerated. As of 2017, there were more than 40 companies not named Tesla testing self-driving vehicles on the road.mon
China has the world’s biggest population at 1.3 billion people and the world’s second biggest economy at $11 trillion. The population boom in China has brought its own kind of bust in the form of pollution that’s thicker than the haze at a 420 rally in Boulder, Colorado. Those new middle class households all now own cars, creating a chaotic choke hold on the country’s highways and byways. With a ballooning middle class with money to burn, the Chinese want to invest their money and become the leader in artificial intelligence and robotics. It’s no wonder why the Party through its semi-capitalist system is pushing toward quiet and clean technologies. Visit here And, if you’ve ever spent more than five minutes in a vehicle in China, you would appreciate the concept of self-driving vehicles.
Leader of the Pack
The top-8-funded Chinese automotive startups today include companies building electric and autonomous vehicles:
* NIO – Founded in 2015, the brand has become synonymous with the company’s official name, NextEV. The company picked up a cool $1 billion last month as part of a Series D. Earlier this year, its sporty, electric model EP9 claimed the title as fastest self-driving car in the world, reaching a speed of about 160 mph without a human behind the steering wheel.
* BAIC BJEV – A state-owned venture, the company reached $1.6 billion with the Series B model. BJEV is a smaller unit of the larger BAIC Group, a state-owned enterprise and holding company for automobile and machine manufacturers headquartered in Beijing. In fact, about two-thirds of the investments come from government-backed enterprises. Founded in 2009, BJEV is one of the largest EV companies in China, with 30,000 vehicles sold during the first half of this year, according to China Money Network. The company is reported to have has a post-money valuation of $4.2 billion.
* WM Motor – Founded in 2015, this Shanghai-based company has picked up $1.15 billion in disclosed investments. WM Motor hopes to begin selling a sport utility EV by 2018, with an eventual capacity to manufacture 100,000 vehicles per year, according to Reuters. Shen apparently has a fetish for zee Germans. The WM stands for Weltmeister, the German word for “world champion”. The cars will reportedly even incorporate German technology, including tech from Bosch and Siemens. This company also made our list of EV startups to watch.
* LeSee – Developed by Beijing-based LeEco, a global Chinese internet company, LeSee is an autonomous EV concept project backed by about $1 billion in investm...
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By "Guru of Geek" Marlo AndersonAUTONOMOUS RACING
One could be forgiven for thinking that Tesla is the only company in existence building autonomous, or self-driving, electric vehicles. The Elon Musk hype machine, fueled by the fanboys at Futurism and other tech sites, has been in overdrive lately.
The United States has not been the leader in the sales of electric vehicles since 2014. That title goes to China, where investments in Chinese self-driving and electric vehicle startups has accelerated. As of 2017, there were more than 40 companies not named Tesla testing self-driving vehicles on the road.mon
China has the world’s biggest population at 1.3 billion people and the world’s second biggest economy at $11 trillion. The population boom in China has brought its own kind of bust in the form of pollution that’s thicker than the haze at a 420 rally in Boulder, Colorado. Those new middle class households all now own cars, creating a chaotic choke hold on the country’s highways and byways. With a ballooning middle class with money to burn, the Chinese want to invest their money and become the leader in artificial intelligence and robotics. It’s no wonder why the Party through its semi-capitalist system is pushing toward quiet and clean technologies. Visit here And, if you’ve ever spent more than five minutes in a vehicle in China, you would appreciate the concept of self-driving vehicles.
Leader of the Pack
The top-8-funded Chinese automotive startups today include companies building electric and autonomous vehicles:
* NIO – Founded in 2015, the brand has become synonymous with the company’s official name, NextEV. The company picked up a cool $1 billion last month as part of a Series D. Earlier this year, its sporty, electric model EP9 claimed the title as fastest self-driving car in the world, reaching a speed of about 160 mph without a human behind the steering wheel.
* BAIC BJEV – A state-owned venture, the company reached $1.6 billion with the Series B model. BJEV is a smaller unit of the larger BAIC Group, a state-owned enterprise and holding company for automobile and machine manufacturers headquartered in Beijing. In fact, about two-thirds of the investments come from government-backed enterprises. Founded in 2009, BJEV is one of the largest EV companies in China, with 30,000 vehicles sold during the first half of this year, according to China Money Network. The company is reported to have has a post-money valuation of $4.2 billion.
* WM Motor – Founded in 2015, this Shanghai-based company has picked up $1.15 billion in disclosed investments. WM Motor hopes to begin selling a sport utility EV by 2018, with an eventual capacity to manufacture 100,000 vehicles per year, according to Reuters. Shen apparently has a fetish for zee Germans. The WM stands for Weltmeister, the German word for “world champion”. The cars will reportedly even incorporate German technology, including tech from Bosch and Siemens. This company also made our list of EV startups to watch.
* LeSee – Developed by Beijing-based LeEco, a global Chinese internet company, LeSee is an autonomous EV concept project backed by about $1 billion in investm...