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.