Uber's old rival in China wants to build a self-driving car

Didi Chuxing, Uber's former fierce rival in China, wants to build a self-driving car.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Didi founder and CEO Cheng Wei said he is hunting for data scientists in Silicon Valley to develop a self-driving car. Didi Chuxing bought Uber China in a $35 billion deal over the summer.

Cheng added that he's also been in talks with Gansha Wu, the former director of Intel Labs who also founded UiSee Technology, a Beijing-based self-driving car company.

Uber is advancing its self-driving car efforts on its own. The ride-hailing service recently launched a pilot in Pittsburgh where select Uber riders can hail a self-driving car.

Didi will also have competition in China with Baidu, which has been testing its self-driving cars in China and was recently cleared for testing in California.