Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing said on Tuesday the company is in talks with Volkswagen AG to seek opportunities to build a fleet and design new car models together, in response to earlier reports the two companies would form a joint venture to co-develop self-driving cars.

DiDi told China Daily "both parties are still exploring details of the cooperation and will focus on building a fleet operation business, and look into other areas such as designing new car models for ride-hailing."

The deal, according to earlier media reports, could be announced as early as next week and is part of a broader alliance between the world's biggest automaker by sales and the global leader in ride-hailing.

In past months, DiDi has teamed up with an array of partners in the field including FAW Group, BAIC Group, GAC Motor and BYD to cooperate in developing new energy vehicles.

Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn