Didi Chuxing, the Chinese ride-hailing group, has spun out its autonomous driving unit as an independent business as the lossmaking company attempts to raise funds with a “capital winter” unsettling technology companies across the country.

The new as-yet unnamed company will give potential investors further access to a technology drawing huge interest globally. Uber and Waymo in the US are investing heavily in the sector, while Didi is also facing competition in its home market from Chinese tech giants Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu. 

Didi’s move mirrors a similar one made by Uber earlier this year as the US ride-hailing app,  under pressure from investors ahead of its $8.1bn initial public offering, spun out its own costly self-driving car business, Advanced Technologies Group, in April.