Drive.ai, a US-based autonomous driving software developer backed by ride hailing service Grab, is to be acquired by consumer electronics producer Apple for an undisclosed sum after weeks of speculation, The Verge reported yesterday.
The deal comes as Drive.ai prepares to shut its headquarters on June 28, according to a state regulatory document cited by TechCrunch. Apple’s interest in Drive.ai was first reported earlier this month, suggesting an acqui-hire deal that was mooted to involve the corporate taking on a select number of Drive.ai’s autonomous driving engineers.
The corporate has now confirmed an acquisition will take place. Sources told Axios that Apple will own Drive.ai’s autonomous vehicles and other assets, and plans to directly recruit members of its team who mostly specialise in engineering and product design.
Drive.ai has been piloting a ride hailing service with driverless, bright orange vehicles which navigate roads using its deep-learning-driven software and has conducted fixed-route testing of its vehicles on public roads without human driver supervision.
The company had planned to integrate its software with autonomous cars built to the needs of its industry partners but has searched for a buyer in recent months in an apparent bid to bring the project to fruition.
Drive.ai was founded in 2015 by former Stanford University graduate students working in the artificial intelligence laboratory of Andrew Ng, chairman of Drive.ai’s board and an assistant professor in the university’s computer science department.
The deal follows more than $77m of funding for the company prior to the acquisition, including $15m raised from ride hailing service Grab and undisclosed additional investors in October 2017, and a $50m series B round led by New Enterprise Associates and backed by GGV Capital and Northern Light Capital four months earlier.
– The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing. Photos courtesy of Drive.ai.