Chinas Uber rival Didi Chuxing has officially opened its U.S.-based research lab. The new center is part of a move to suck up talent beyond Didis current catchment pool in China, particularly in the areas of AI and self-driving vehicles, but it doesnt signal an expansion of itsservice into North America.

The existence of the research center itself isnt new. Last September, TechCrunch wrote that Didi had hired a pair of experienced security experts based in the U.S. Dr Fengmin Gong and Zheng Bu to lead the center, which works closely with another China-based facilitythat opened in late 2015, but now it is officially open.

Dr Gong will lead the facility in Mountain View, and his team of dozens of leading data scientists and researchers will include former Uber researcher Charlie Miller. Miller rose to fame in 2015 when he hacked a journalists vehicle from a laptop 10 miles awayin a pre-arranged stunt to demonstratevulnerabilities within the automotive industry.

Millers job seems much like his role at Uber according to tweets he sent out today. His defection is noteworthy since it appears to be the first major poach that Didi has made from Uber, and it falls in the self-driving car space whereUber has made a huge push.

Didi is looking to make an early impact in Silicon Valley through a partnership with Udacity around self-driving vehicles. The two companies announced a joint contest inviting teams to developan Automated Safety and Awareness Processing Stack (ASAPS) to increasedriving safety for both manual and self-driving vehicles. Five finalists chosen will get a shot at the $100,000 grand prize and the opportunity to work closer with Didi and Udacity on automotive projects.

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China's Didi Chuxing opens US lab to develop AI and self-driving car tech - TechCrunch