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Chinese self-driving technology firm WeRide, fresh off raising HK$2.39 billion (US$307 million) in a Hong Kong share sale, plans to rev up commercialisation of autonomous taxis and expand into markets like the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Japan. Tony Han, founder and CEO of the Guangzhou-based company, said WeRide would deploy 10,000 robotaxis worldwide over the next few years, adding that its fleet could eventually grow to hundreds of thousands in line with the ultimate goal of “supplying more ubiquitously available global taxi service”. “WeRide, as the first mover and industrial leader in the self-driving industry, will expand to the global market,” he said, adding that the proceeds from the Hong Kong offering would support research and development as well as geographic expansion. Han said WeRide also planned to roll out different lines of businesses, such as using premium-level autonomous cars to provide taxi service to wealthy customers. “But we definitely will focus on supplying very efficient or economically efficient services to the working class or normal people,” he added. WeRide, which already trades on the Nasdaq market, made its Hong Kong trading debut on Thursday, where its shares fell 14 per cent to HK$23.22 at the start of trading. The firm priced its Hong Kong shares at HK$27.10 apiece, a premium of 11.5 per cent to its Tuesday close of US$9.40 on the Nasdaq. One American depositary share is equal to three ordinary shares. The dual listing came after big-name banks published bullish forecasts for China’s robotaxi business, buoyed by consumers’ willingness to embrace new technologies amid falling costs for building intelligent electric vehicles (EVs). WeRide operates 700 driverless taxis around the world at present, and it also supplies its technology to car assemblers such as GAC Motor and Chery Automobile. According to current -standards, robotaxis have Level 4 self-driving capabilities. That means they do not require human intervention under most circumstances, according to SAE Inter-national, a global standards body. “Our vision is to make transportation safer, more comfortable, more efficient and more accessible to everybody through autonomous driving,” Han said. In China, robotaxi firms like WeRide run driverless vehicles in designated areas in several cities and charge fees that can be as low as 10 per cent of the average ride. As many as 300,000 driverless taxis could be operating in mainland China’s four top-tier cities by 2030, supported by rapid advances in artificial intelligence chips and the fiercely competitive EV sector, according to UBS. That number could climb to 4 million by the late 2030s as more passengers embraced autonomous transport, said Paul Gong, head of China automotive research at UBS. The bullish forecast echoed an HSBC estimate last month that robotaxis would account for 6 per cent of the country’s total taxi market. The bank said the market size would top US$40 billion a year in the near future. A former chief scientist in Baidu’s autonomous-driving unit, Han founded WeRide in 2017. The company also provides self-driving technology for vans and road sweepers. At the beginning of this year, WeRide launched a pilot project testing fully autonomous cars in Switzerland through a partnership with the country’s national railway operator. Autonomous cars fitted with WeRide’s technology are in service in the Furttal region of Switzerland. Schweizerische Bundesbah-nen, the national railway operator, is giving financial support, and Swiss Transit Lab is managing the driverless cars. WeRide, along with Baidu’s autonomous-driving business Apollo, and self-driving tech start-up Pony.ai, are deemed by analysts and industry officials as China’s answer to US-based Waymo, the global leader in self-driving taxi services. Pony.ai also debuted on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday. In October 2024, WeRide netted US$440.5 million in an initial public offering and private placement on the Nasdaq market.
