WeRide Secures $200M Funding for Autonomous Driving Development

WeRide, a leading Chinese startup heavily invested in the creation of self-driving technology, announced on Wednesday that it secured $200 million in a new strategic funding round led by Chinese bus manufacturer Yutong.

Significant financial backing is typical for companies such as WeRide that are focused on developing level 4 autonomous driving systems. This level signifies a vehicle’s ability to manage the vast majority of driving scenarios without requiring human control.

A company representative informed TechCrunch that WeRide has not revealed its current valuation as part of this funding round, which represents the initial portion of its Series B financing.

This new capital will facilitate a collaboration between WeRide and Yutong, a company with 57 years of experience, to produce self-driving minibuses and full-size city buses. The two companies will also cooperate on research and development, vehicle platforms, and mobility services. They have already successfully created a driverless minibus intended for large-scale production. According to WeRide, this model is designed to operate on public roads in urban environments and notably lacks traditional driving controls like a steering wheel, accelerator, and brakes.

Alliance Ventures, the venture capital division of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, initially invested in WeRide as a strategic partner in 2018, following the completion of the startup’s Series A funding, which also included investment from SenseTime, a prominent Chinese facial recognition technology company.

Chinese autonomous driving companies are actively demonstrating their advancements, largely to attract investment for their operations. AutoX, supported by Alibaba, has already begun testing driverless vehicles on public roads in Shenzhen as an example. WeRide and its competitors are currently evaluating various levels of autonomous vehicle technology in both the United States and several major cities within China, where local regulations are encouraging the development of this advanced transportation technology.

According to a WeRide spokesperson, investor confidence in autonomous driving and its future commercial viability has grown, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic in China. This has resulted in increased investment activity in the sector, as investors aim to identify and support potential leaders in the field. The spokesperson also stated that the Series B funding round has generated substantial interest.

WeRide’s competitive landscape includes companies such as Pony.ai, located in Guangzhou, AutoX and Deeproute.ai in Shenzhen, Momenta in Suzhou, and Baidu in Beijing, among others.