Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi released its second-quarter financial report on Wednesday and announced the acquisition of autonomous driving company DeepMotion

Details: Benefiting from its strong growth in the global smartphone market, the company's revenue reached $13.56 billion, a year-on-year increase of 64%, and its net profit reached $1.28 billion, surged over 80% from the same time a year ago.

Xiaomi’s revenue from Internet of Things and lifestyle products category also saw a 36% jump in revenue to $3.2 billion.

The company also announced that it will acquire the autonomous driving technology startup Deepmotion for about $77.3 million. 

Founded in July 2017 by a group of researchers from Microsoft Research Asia, DeepMotion provides full-stack autonomous driving solutions, including technologies such as forward/round/perimeter vision perception systems and autonomous valet parking AVP solutions.

The acquisition will help Xiaomi initially supplement its lineup of team leaders for various modules of self-driving technology, potentially laying the foundation for the development of self-driving technology for Xiaomi cars, the report said.

Context: Xiaomi’s share of the global smartphone market grew 83% year-on-year in the quarter, ended in June, according to research firm Canalys. It shipped 52.8 million phones, making it the world’s second top-selling brand for the first time in its history, behind Samsung and ahead of Apple.

In March, the smartphone maker announced it would spend $10 billion to enter the electric vehicle sector. The company has not officially announced any partnerships or plans for its first model, although public posts on the job search website indicate that the company is actively recruiting talent.