Deeproute targets European carmakers with cheap driverless tech

Burning through cash on robotaxis is officially out, and hunting for automaker deals in Europe is officially in.

At the IAA Mobility show in Munich this week, Alibaba-backed autonomous driving startup Deeproute.ai revealed plans to open an operations center in Germany in 2024. The Shenzhen-based company, which has raised $350 million and employs over 500 people, also wants to roll out its production-ready smart driving system in Germany next year before branching into other European markets.

They are following a familiar playbook. Suzhou-based rival Momenta opened an office in Stuttgart two years ago to stay close to investor Mercedes-Benz, while EV maker Nio already runs an innovation center in Berlin and a design facility in Munich.

Dropping maps and slashing hardware costs

The weapon Deeproute is bringing to European carmakers is Drive 3.0, a production-focused autonomous driving solution.

The system runs without high-definition maps and includes features like valet parking assist. Powered by Nvidia’s Drive Orin chip, Deeproute managed to squeeze the entire hardware setup down to a compelling $2,000, thanks largely to competitive pricing from Chinese lidar suppliers.

Deeproute has not settled on a host city for the German base yet. However, the company confirmed it will hire a local business development team there to pitch European carmakers and support OEM partners on serial production.

Pivoting from robotaxis to real revenue

Like many ambitious autonomous driving outfits, Deeproute originally went all-in on Level 4 robotaxis. By the end of 2022, the startup logged more than 800,000 passenger rides across major Chinese cities.

Building driverless cabs without a driver seat is an expensive game, and immediate monetization is scarce. Deeproute admitted that as it began working with automakers on mass production last year, it shifted its core focus from robotaxis to road-testing production-ready vehicles. That pivot has already helped it win business with Chinese automakers like Geely and Seres.

Why it matters

For car buyers, this push could finally bring capable driver assistance into everyday vehicles without the luxury price tag. A map-free hardware suite priced at $2,000 makes semi-autonomous driving accessible to budget and mid-tier segments across Europe.

For the auto industry, Chinese tech startups are taking the fight directly to legacy European Tier 1 suppliers like Bosch and Continental. European OEMs have struggled with in-house software and slow development cycles. Offering a pre-packaged stack paired with Nvidia silicon gives Deeproute a compelling value pitch.

We think shifting away from pure Level 4 dreams to front-loaded OEM contracts is a smart, pragmatic survival move. But establishing an operations base on German soil is only half the battle. European legacy brands are notoriously conservative with safety compliance and local data sovereignty, meaning Deeproute will have to prove its system can handle European roads just as cleanly as its domestic test tracks.