(Yicai Global) May 15 -- The Shenzhen-based China's artificial intelligence startup Roadstar.ai, which engages in autonomous driving technology, raised USD128 million in series-A financing, it said today. It marks the highest series-A funding amount in China's self-driving industry so far.

Beijing-based Wu Capital and Shenzhen Capital Group led this round of funding, pouring the highest investment amount in a series-A round of funding in China's autonomous driving field, technology news site 36Kr reported.

This record was previously held by Pony.ai, a Beijing-based autonomous car startup. It secured USD112 million in its series-A financing at the beginning of this year. The Silicon Valley, California- and Shenzhen-based Roadstar.ai has now surpassed it as the most valued startup in such a round in the field of driverless cars in the world's biggest auto market.

Established in May 2017, Roadstar.ai is an artificial intelligence startup that specializes in level 4 autonomous driving technologies. It was founded by three engineers who had previously led autonomous driving technologies at Alphabet Inc's Google LLC, Tesla Inc., Apple Inc., Nvidia Corp., and Baidu Inc.

The establishment of research and development centers in the Silicon Valley and Shenzhen has attracted many engineers from around the world to join the company, which has completed open road tests in both China and the United States, the company said.

Roadstar.ai also announced an autonomous technology solution for complex urban roads, called Aries, which is China's first autonomous driving L4 solution equipped with domestic light detection and ranging, or Lidar, remote sensing method that offers cost advantages.

Editor: Mevlut Katik