Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi is participating in Geometrical Perception and Learning Co's (G-PAL) approximately RMB 400 million ($61.88 million) Pre-A series funding round as the lead investor in the Pre-A2 round, the self-driving technology provider said Monday.

G-PAL said the funding round is focused on accelerating the mass production of next-generation architectures for autonomous driving software and hardware integration systems.

G-PAL was founded in October 2018 and is positioned as a Tier 1 supplier to automotive companies. The company provides "fused sensing + intelligent decision making" software and hardware integration systems for L2-L4 autonomous driving based on machine perception and deep learning.

G-PAL's 4D millimeter-wave imaging radar-based fusion sensing solution has accumulated a large number of road test scenarios and data, and has achieved small volume deliveries in the Shanghai Yangshan Port self-driving container truck and heavy-duty flatbed truck projects, said Xue Dan, founder and CEO of G-PAL.

The company is working with car companies on passenger car models for pre-sale in 2023, in the front-fit testing phase.

Prior to this, Xiaomi invested in two other technology companies in the automotive space.

Chinese self-driving startup ZongmuTech announced on June 3 that it closed a cumulative $190 million Series D round of funding from a fund backed by giant Xiaomi.

This is one of the first investments made by a fund backed by Xiaomi in the industry chain since the company announced its entry into the car-making space on March 30.

On June 8, Hesai Photonics Technology, a LiDAR manufacturer, announced the completion of a Series D funding round of more than $300 million, with Xiaomi also as one of the lead investors.

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(Photo source: G-PAL's website)