Car news on March 24th, according to foreign media The? Information reported that Softbank is about to finalize a new investment and take the lead in investing 311 million US dollars (about 2 billion yuan) in Didi Autopilot. This will be the fourth financing for Softbank to hit Didi. Considering the impact of the recent COVID-19 epidemic on Softbank and Didi, this investment is undoubtedly a timely help.

▲ Foreign media reports that Softbank will invest in Didi

It is understood that the global economic slowdown caused by the epidemic has begun to have an impact on Softbank Group. Although Softbank still raised 5 billion US dollars (about 35.4 billion yuan) to invest in start-up technology companies, Uber, the travel company it supports, and OYO, the hotel chain, have been affected by the economic downturn, and the dilemma of WeWork, the office company that was previously invested in, has intensified.

these conditions will exert substantial financial pressure on Softbank, and will also affect its next capital raising. But even so, Softbank still decided to continue to invest an additional $311 million (about RMB 2 billion) in Didi, which it has been firmly supporting.

This investment will probably alleviate the pressure that Didi is facing now. Under the influence of the COVID-19 epidemic, Didi's core ride business has been hit, and the order volume has dropped to 1/5 of the usual situation. It is also difficult for Didi's self-driving subsidiary to carry out road test and routine development during the epidemic.

under such circumstances, Didi's regular business has fallen sharply, and the autonomous driving business is facing a situation of continuous investment (minimum operation is still needed, and employees' salaries are paid), but there is no technical output. The situation is quite pessimistic.

at this time, The $311 million (about RMB 2 billion) invested by Softbank in Didi Autopilot's subsidiary undoubtedly helped Didi Autopilot. Information said that after this investment, Softbank has become the biggest supporter of Didi.

However, since the beginning of the year, autopilot companies such as Waymo, a subsidiary of Google's parent company Alphabet, and Pony.ai, a China autopilot startup, have successively received hundreds of millions of dollars in financing. In addition, this time, Didi Autopilot will soon receive 311 million dollars (about 2 billion yuan) in financing from Softbank Group, and the capital in the field of autopilot is concentrating on head players to accelerate the mass production of technology.

1. Softbank generals will drop $311 million? Both sides are broThers in distress

According to the? Information reported that since the spin-off of Didi's autopilot department in August last year, Didi has been communicating with Softbank, hoping to obtain new financing from Softbank Group.

The news from foreign media can be regarded as Softbank's response to the financing needs of Didi Chuxing. However, it should be noted that compared with Softbank's previous investment of billions of dollars in Didi, the financing volume of 311 million dollars (about 2 billion yuan) is much smaller, probably because "the landlord has no surplus grain."

▲ Chairman and President of Softbank Group? Sun zhengyi

It is reported that Softbank announced on Monday that it will sell assets of 41 billion US dollars (about 291.2 billion yuan) to reduce its debt burden and provide funds for stock repurchase.

The travel company Uber and hotel chain OYO, which it previously supported, all experienced business decline due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

Wework, previously invested by Softbank, failed in its IPO last year and its valuation dropped sharply, causing Softbank's share price to drop by 12% in a single day. Recently, the company also criticized Softbank for not buying the company's employee stocks as promised, and Softbank said it might withdraw from WeWork's stock acquisition plan.

These investment failures have dealt a heavy blow to Softbank Group. Even so, Softbank still raised $5 billion (about RMB 35.4 billion) to invest in start-up technology companies. The investment in Didi autopilot this time is part of this $5 billion (about RMB 35.4 billion).

it is understood that Didi's core business from October to February in 2121-travel and ride business has also been hit. According to sources, Didi's order volume in the past two months has dropped to 1/5 of the regular level, and Didi's bicycle business has also been affected simultaneously.

However, in recent weeks, due to certain achievements in domestic epidemic control, major cities have started to resume work, and the orders for Didi's travel and ride business and * * * bicycle business have also rebounded.

However, I am afraid that the money invested by Softbank in Didi will not be used to relieve the regular travel and ride business and enjoy the bicycle business, mainly to give Didi automatic driving blood transfusion.

▲ Didi's self-driving taxi

Since 2119, the capital invested in the field of self-driving has obviously decreased, and the capital flowing into the field of self-driving has become more rational, mainly focusing on the head company.

last year, only Argo.AI supported by Ford, Cruise owned by GM, and Uber, a travel company, obtained financing of more than USD 1 billion (about RMB 7 billion).

In the first two months of 2121, only Waymo, a brother in the autonomous driving industry, raised 2 billion US dollars (about RMB 14.2 billion) in financing.

It is obviously not easy for Didi Autopilot, which was just spun off last summer, to obtain financing. Didi also pointed out that its autopilot subsidiary will not form positive cash flow within five years, and such a long-term return on investment has deterred investors.

However, it is obviously unrealistic to rely solely on Didi's behavior to transfuse blood from its self-driving subsidiary. Therefore, Didi will always negotiate with its biggest supporter Softbank. However, both sides are "brothers in distress", and it is already extremely forbearing for Softbank to invest a billion-dollar investment in Didi.

second, does Softbank lay out the autonomous driving industry chain in a big way? Didi is the last link

The reason why Softbank still wants to invest in Didi Autopilot subsidiary under such a "tight" situation is not only for the "friendship" between the two parties, but Softbank has formed an industrial chain in the software and hardware layout of autopilot, but it still lacks the last link-commercialization.

Softbank's most well-known investment in the field of autonomous driving is the $2.25 billion (about RMB 15.93 billion) invested in GM Cruise.

but in fact, in the field of autonomous driving, Softbank's investment layout is related to hardware-based autonomous driving chips and sensors, as well as software-based high-precision maps, autonomous driving algorithms and V2X car networking technology.

In terms of autopilot chips, Softbank chose to acquire ARM and take a stake in NVIDIA. However, at the end of 2118, the sharp drop in NVIDIA's share price caused Softbank to lose $1 billion (about RMB 7.56 billion), and Softbank immediately chose to give up NVIDIA.

In this regard, Sun Zhengyi, the head of Softbank, said: "Softbank is an investment company, not an operating company." Without NVIDIA, Softbank still owns ARM, a reliable chip company.

▲ Chairman and President of Softbank Group? Sun zhengyi

some analysts pointed out that ARM can provide Softbank with reliable and advanced self-driving chips, and its energy consumption is low, which has great advantages in self-driving cars.

in terms of sensors, Softbank invested in Israeli lidar company Innoviz and camera company Light.

in terms of software, Softbank mainly focuses on high-precision maps, autonomous driving algorithms and car networking technology.

In p>2117, Softbank Vision Fund invested USD 64 million (about RMB 1.13 billion) in Mapbox, a high-precision mapping company. Today, Mapbox collects more than 211 million miles of anonymous sensor driving data every day.

In terms of autonomous driving algorithm, Softbank has sent two autonomous driving algorithm companies, Nauto and Brain respectively. Crop invested US$ 59 million (about RMB 1.19 billion) and US$ 1.14 (about RMB 781 million).

as for the internet of vehicles, it has been reported that Softbank and Japanese car company Honda * * * will jointly conduct research on the internet of vehicles, and devote themselves to the development of the communication antenna in vehicles. However, it has not been reported since then.

in addition, Softbank also invested 511 billion yen (about 31.8 billion yuan) to establish SB? with former Toyota engineer * *? Drive Company, whose research and development direction is self-driving bus, according to its official website news, its self-driving bus has been put into trial operation in Batou Town, Tottori Prefecture.

in terms of travel, Softbank has invested heavily in Uber, Didi, Grab (Southeast Asia Travel Service Company) and Ola (Indian Travel Service Company), and its travel services cover Europe, America, China, Southeast Asia, South Asia and other markets.

For Softbank, it seems that the layout has been completed from the underlying technology of autonomous driving, all kinds of infrastructure, and then to the travel company.

But in fact, at this time, Softbank still lacks the opportunity for its own investment in the autonomous driving industry chain to land on a large scale, and the autonomous driving subsidiary spun off by Didi last summer made Softbank see hope.

Didi Chuxing is the largest travel service company in China at present, and its number of users has already exceeded 111 million. On this basis, it is not only very efficient for Didi Chuxing to use a wide range of road data for autonomous driving research. At the same time, its landing scene is also guaranteed, and once the technology is mature, it will be a very large-scale landing.

It is understood that Jaco, CTO of Didi Autopilot, is currently the CEO of Didi Autopilot, and Meng Xing, executive director of the fund, is the COO. Jia Zhaoyin and Zheng Jianqiang are the heads of the R&D team in the United States and China respectively, and all of them report to Jaco.

▲ Jaco, CTO of Didi Chuxing and CEO of the new company

In August last year, Che Dongxi asked Didi Autopilot about the specific progress of its autopilot business. It is understood that Didi currently has 41+ autopilot test vehicles. Previously, Jaco, CTO of Didi Autopilot, revealed in an interview with Che Dongxi that Didi Autopilot had personally led the team, and had already carried out the road test of Autopilot in China and four cities in the United States, and obtained the license of Autopilot Road Test in California.

in terms of autonomous driving business team, Didi has built a number of professional teams, including high-precision map, perception, behavior prediction, planning and control, infrastructure and simulation, data labeling, problem diagnosis, vehicle modification, cloud control and vehicle networking, vehicle-road coordination, information security and so on. At present, the team carries out research and development and testing in many places in China and the United States, with a scale of over 211 people.

In terms of industry, Didi Autopilot has gradually deepened its cooperative relationship with more than 21 automakers such as BAIC New Energy, Guoneng Automobile, Chehejia and related upstream and downstream companies.

According to Jaco, Didi's autonomous driving business will open a new business model: the car factory will build the car, then put the car into Didi's platform with one click, and let the car factory share it in each single order. In the future business model of Didi Autopilot, such a business model is likely to be implemented.

from this point of view, Didi's technical ideas and commercialization ideas in the autonomous driving business are very perfect. It is no wonder that Softbank will choose Didi as a key link in its autonomous driving layout and choose to invest billions of dollars in Didi's autonomous driving at this time.

from a large industrial perspective, this is also a manifestation of the gradual concentration of capital in the field of autonomous driving towards head players and the acceleration of technology mass production.

This article comes from the author of Chejia, car home, and does not represent car home's standpoint.