BEIJING (Reuters) -China's bike-sharing platform Hellobike announced on Monday the setup of a new robotaxi firm jointly with Ant Group and CATL.

The three parties have invested over 3 billion yuan ($417.40 million) in total in the new firm as an initial investment, Hellobike said in a statement.

The new firm, registered in Shanghai on Monday, will focus on level 4 autonomous driving R&D, safe applications and commercialisation.

($1 = 7.1874 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Sonali Paul)