Xiaomi in EV drive ambition

Co-founder and chief executive officer Lei Jun (pic) is now spearheading a drive to take Xiaomi beyond smartphones. The 51-year-old is personally leading a project to make electric vehicles

BEIJING: Xiaomi Corp will buy autonomous driving technology startup Deepmotion for about US$77.4mil (RM324.34mil), sealing a deal to help further its ambitions of getting into the fast-expanding field.

The company announced the acquisition after reporting better-than-expected results for the second quarter, when a recovery in key markets like India helped it overtake Apple Inc to become the world’s second-largest phone vendor by shipments.