Low profile electric car firm with Tesla co-founder begins testing autonomous driving in California

A low-profile Chinese-funded electric car startup that counts one of Tesla's co-founders among its executives has begun testing self-driving car technology on California roads, the company said Monday.

SF Motors has so far kept a lower profile than some other electric car startups, including those funded by Chinese backers, such as Faraday Future. But it has made series of moves that suggest it is a potentially serious player in the electric vehicle market and other new transportation technologies.

Most recently, the company secured a permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to test autonomous driving tech on California roads. In October 2017, the company bought battery startup InEvit, headed by Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard, who is now SF Motors' vice chairman and chief scientist. It also began a multi-year, $2.5-million partnership in 2016 with the University of Michigan to conduct proprietary joint research on automated driving systems.

The company is only a few years old, and already has two offices and one factory in the United States, and others in Germany, China, and a planned facility in Japan.

Now the firm is ready to raise its public profile, said Chief Technology Officer Yifan Tang, in an interview with CNBC. For example, the company plans to unveil a concept car later in March.

The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese automaker and part supplier Chongqing Sokon Industry Group, which gives it support and backing other similar electric startups do nor have, including some from China, Tang said.

"It allows us to do all this technological development without having to search for other funding or means of support," he said.

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