Smart from Mercedes-Benz and Geely signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the GWM-backed Deeproute.ai robotaxi startup. Two parties will partner in the field of AI-powered intelligent driving systems development.
Deeproute.ai was founded in 2019 as a Chinese robotaxi startup aimed at the development of address-to-address smart driving that doesnβt require high-definition maps. In November 2024, Great Wall Motor (GWM) invested 100 million USD, leading the Series C financing round. At the CES 2025, GWM officials said that cooperation with Deeproute.ai will help to enhance the quality of driving assistance systems. Wey-branded cars will be the first to adopt Deeprouteβs AI-based intelligent driving system.
Smart cooperates with Deeproute.ai
On January 16, Deeparoute.ai and Smart announced a strategic cooperation with a focus on exploring AI technologies. They will jointly develop intelligent driving systems with a posh aim of βenabling intelligent driving cars to evolve from travel tools to AI intelligent bodies.β
PR speech aside, Deeproute.ai is developing an end-to-end algorithm model that will cope with autonomous parking and various driving scenarios like roundabouts, sharp turns, and even roads with no lane lines. In November 2024, Deeproute.ai announced that approximately 20,000 vehicles integrated with the Deeproute IO smart driving platform have been delivered to customers since August.
Previously, Smart cooperated with Mobileye Supervision point-to-point automatic navigation system, offering the Pilot Assist system. Its hardware includes two Mobileye EyeQ5 chips, 11 cameras, and radar. Geely-backed Zeekr and Polestar were also Mobileyeβs customers. However, new Zeekr models switched to Nvidia solutions. And Smart is exploring cooperation with Deeproute.ai. It seems that Mobileye is losing important clients.
Back to Smart, the #5 electric crossover is considered the brandβs first model with the Deeproute IO platform. It entered the Chinese market in October 2024 with a price range between 239,900 β 368,000 yuan (32,720 β 50,190 USD). It boasts dimensions of 4705/1920/1705 mm. Its 4WD variant offers up to 475 kW (636 hp).
