WeRide announces self-driving fleet with over 100 vehicles

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Guangzhou-based WeRide announced on May 13 its autonomous driving fleet has so far had over 100 vehicles, and is about to begin scale operation of robotaxi service. 

A variety of models, such as the Lincoln MKZ, the Nissan Leaf 2, the GAC GE3, the Aion LX, the Xpeng P7 and Dongfeng Nissan's Sylphy Zero Emission which is specifically used for robotaxi operations, constitutes WeRide's current self-driving fleet.

(Photo source: WeRide's WeChat account)

The startup said it is the first autonomous driving company in China that makes a fleet with over 100 vehicles for self-driving testing and operation burst into public view.

The young technology company has achieved several milestones in China's development of autonomous vehicles. For instance, it launched a Level 4 self-driving taxi in November 2018, the first-of-its-kind in China; in last November, it rolled out a RoboTaxi pilot program in Guangzhou, the first RoboTaxi fleeting operating in China's tier-1 city. The latter project is operated by WeRide RoboTaxi, a new joint venture founded in last August with its strategic partners including Baiyun Taxi Group, the largest taxi company in South China under Guangzhou Public Transport Group, and SCI (Guangzhou) Group.

In December 2019, the first month of WeRide RoboTaxi's trial operation in Guangzhou, a total of 8,396 robotaxi rides were completed, the startup said in a report released in February 2020. The report, which is China's first one themed robotaxi operation, also shows that average daily rides were 270.8 with the peak reaching 438 rides on December 26, 2019. The robotaxi fleet accumulated 41,140-km mileage for the finished rides and provided service for 4,683 users during the same month.