Xiaomi Corp's $10 billion car-making project is progressing as per schedule, and a license is not needed at the moment. This is because the project is still in research and development mode and has not entered production stage, sources familiar with the matter said.

The comments come after Bloomberg reported that Xiaomi has been talking to National Development and Reform Commission officials about licensing for its car project for months without success.

While Xiaomi did not respond to requests for comments, sources familiar with the matter told China Daily on Friday that Xiaomi's car-making project is progressing well and its auto team already has over 1,600 employees.

The sporadic COVID-19 outbreaks have not affected Xiaomi's research and development in its car project. Sources further said that at a recent internal meeting, Lei Jun, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi, praised the company's automobile engineering research and development team for progress made.

Xiaomi is scheduled to mass produce its own electric vehicle in the first half of 2024. Currently, its team is accelerating steps to push forward R&D, including testing vehicles for autonomous driving technologies as reported earlier, sources said.

According to the sources, the license only affects the production of electric vehicles and is not needed until production equipment enters a plant.