(Yicai) April 2 -- GAC Aion, the electric vehicle marque of Chinese carmaker GAC Group, and ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing have established a 50-50 joint venture to make autonomous EVs.

The new venture will develop EVs based on GAC Aion's third-generation AEP 3.0 platform and Star Soul electronics architecture as well as Didi's Level-4 self-driving technology, Yicai learned. It has a registered capital of CNY420 million (USD58 million).

Didi unit Voyager Group announced a tie-up with Guangzhou-based GAC Aion in May 2021. Two years later, they agreed to set up the AIDI Program, a project to mass produce self-driving electric cars, and form a related joint venture.

The AIDI Program was the first time in China that a carmaker had set up a JV to mass produce EVs on a large scale with an autonomous driving firm. Their first model will use Voyager's L4 autonomous driving system and self-driving technology solutions for travel services.

Chen Xuewen, a global expert in artificial intelligence and former executive at Beijing-based Didi, became chief professional engineer at GAC Research and Development Center in July 2021. Chen's main work is AI-related, including autonomous driving, intelligent cockpits, and Big Data in the auto industry.

Voyager secured USD149 million of investment from a yuan-denominated fund set up by GAC Group to boost R&D and the commercialization of its technologies on Oct. 12. GAC Capital and Guangzhou Development District Investment Group set up the special fund, with financing of as much as USD155 million, to invest in Voyager.

Editor: Martin Kadiev