Autonomous driving technology provider DeepRoute.ai plans to begin robotaxi operations using consumer-grade production vehicles before the end of this year.

The company has received more than $500m of investor funding including from Alibaba and Great Wall Motor.

Its autonomous driving technology currently supports roughly 150,000 consumer-assisted vehicles in China, with the company expecting that number to exceed 200,000 by year-end.

By integrating its autonomous driving systems into new vehicles at the manufacturing stage, DeepRoute.ai hopes to avoid the costs associated with retrofitting.

The firm also highlighted its map‑free navigation approach, which eliminates the need for high‑definition map licensing and the ongoing maintenance those maps require.

This production‑vehicle model allows quicker roll‑out to additional cities because lengthy mapping work is not required, it added.

DeepRoute.ai CEO Maxwell Zhou said: "A key strength of DeepRoute.ai's approach is that its robotaxi platform and mass-produced vehicles are built on the same core technology framework, enabling a high level of consistency and seamless platform interoperability.”

DeepRoute.ai constantly tests its technology across diverse urban environments to speed the rollout of production-ready autonomous features for consumer markets.

A global opportunity exists for robotaxi services, DeepRoute.ai said, with Europe, Japan and South Korea identified as particularly significant markets.

DeepRoute.ai’s lower‑cost hardware approach is expected to benefit these regions as Europe faces rising labour costs and shifting regulations, while Japan and South Korea confront aeging populations and driver availability challenges.

The firm is setting up an operational footprint in Europe to back localisation and engagement with partners.

Earlier this year, DeepRoute.ai introduced DeepRoute IO 2.0, its latest smart driving platform, which is powered by a Vision‑Language‑Action model.