Honda's Driverless Cars and Robots Will Get Smarts from a Chinese AI Firm

Sensetime, one of China's most impressive young machine-learning companies, is about to start developing new autonomous technologies for one of the world's biggest automakers. Sensetime is part of a crop of homegrown firms that shows just how vibrant the AI industry is becoming in China. When I visited the company's headquarters in Shenzhen earlier this year, I found it to have built a range of computer vision technologies and a formidable team of engineers. While Sensetime may not be well known outside of China, it is one of the world's most valuable AI startups, having received a $410 million funding injection in July, giving it a valuation in excess of $1 billion. The company provides vision technology to scores of big businesses in China, for everything from facial recognition for surveillance to augmented-reality programs for smartphones. It also has ambitions to grow internationally.