Didi Chuxing, the Apple-backed ride-hailing company that forced Uber to give up its interests in China, recently announced that it is opening its own research and development center in the United States. Called simply as the DiDi Labs, the R&D center is located at the very heart of the tech world, Silicon Valley, California.

Didi Chuxing is looking to create its own intelligent driving technologies, given the recent pivot of not only tech companies but also traditional car companies towards this emerging market. The Chinese tech giant has started a massive hiring spree snatching one of the most prominent security researchers in the business, according to Forbes.

Charlie Miller, who gained notoriety when he and his colleague Chris Valasek remotely hacked a Jeep Cherokee back in 2015, announced that he is leaving Uber in order to join Didi's research division in the U.S.

In a Twitter post, Miller shared, "Excited to announce I'm joining Didi Research America to lead the safety and security of their autonomous transportation systems. My job is to make sure the assisted driving and autonomous systems developed and used by Didi are resistant to external attacks and threats."

DiDi Labs is helmed by DiDi Research Institue vice president Fengmin Gong. According to CNBC, the company has already hired dozens of researchers, data scientists, and security experts to join its newly founded division in the U.S.

In its bid to be an autonomous driving car pioneer, DiDi have also struck a partnership with Udacity, an online education service founded by former Google Self-Driving Car head Sebastian Thrun. Udacity and DiDi will launch a programming competition in their bid to find potential AI developers.

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