Other investors include EV100, a powerful electric vehicle industry lobby group, and CCB Trust, PATEO said in a statement. With new funding, PATEO raised 1.8 billion yuan in its B and B+ fundraising rounds.

The investment would be used for research and development, 11-year-old PATEO said. Its investors include Xiaomi Corp and Dongfeng Motor Group and is supplying to automakers including Volkswagen AG and General Motors.

As the global auto industry pursues an electric and smart future, Chinese automakers and tech companies are developing technologies to make vehicles more connected and autonomous.

China said in 2019 it hopes intelligent vehicles will account for 30% of all new sales by 2035.

($1 = 6.4827 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Yilei Sun and Brenda Goh; Editing by Louise Heavens)