Chinese driverless car company WeRide launches self-driving vans for deliveries
PORTFOLIO NEWS
China-based autonomous driving startup WeRide announced in Summer 2021 that it will deepen joint development with Nissan of autonomous driving technology for the Chinese market. The announcement comes as the company raised $310 million to reach a valuation of $3.3 billion.
Led by founder Tony Han, the company is developing Level 4 autonomous standard, in which the vehicle can manage all aspects of driving under most circumstances without human intervention.
WeRide announced in September 2021 that it will begin developing self-driving vans for urban logistics services in collaboration with manufacturer JMC and delivery company ZTO Express.
“We’re seeing that the line between passenger vehicle and city logistics vehicle is disappearing,” Tony Han, CEO of WeRide, told CNBC on Thursday. “This is a self-driving vehicle. If you put a seat in it, it can serve as a robotaxi car. If you put a cabinet in it, it’s really a logistics car.”
This news make the headlines as WeRide reaches 10 million kilometers of autonomous driving on open roads, of which the mileage of fully unmanned driving exceeded 2.5 million kilometers. WeRide was able to achieve this milestone by continuously testing and operating its self-driving fleets. Over the previous four years, the company has grown its fleet to over 300 vehicles in China and the United States.
ABOUT WERIDE
Founded in 2017 by Tony Han together with a group of talented individuals, WeRide.ai has emerged as the leading autonomous driving company aiming to achieve large-scale, commercial deployment of fully L4 autonomous vehicles for the public. WeRdi.ai is committed to using artificial intelligence to deliver fully autonomous vehicles that operate without human intervention to perceive the environment and deliver a safe, robust, and convenient Mobility as a Service. WeRide.ai is a privately held company headquartered in Guangzhou, with offices in Sunnyvale, Beijing and Anqing. For more information, visit www.weride.ai.
ABOUT RENAULT-NISSAN-MITSUBISHI
Groupe Renault, Nissan Motor Company and Mitsubishi Motors represent the world’s largest automotive alliance. It is the longest-lasting and most productive cross-cultural partnership in the auto industry, whose member companies are focused on collaboration and maximizing synergies to boost competitiveness. This strategic alliance is among the industry leaders in zero-emission vehicles and is developing the latest advanced technologies, with plans to offer autonomous drive, connectivity features and services on a wide range of affordable vehicles.
ABOUT ALLIANCE VENTURES
Alliance Ventures is the strategic venture capital fund of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, the world’s largest automotive alliance. The fund, launched in 2018 and co-located in Amsterdam, Paris and the Silicon-Valley, plans to invest to support open innovation. Alliance Ventures targets technology and business model innovation in new mobility, autonomous driving, connected services, EV & energy and enterprise 2.0. By drawing on expertise and business opportunities from across the world’s largest automotive alliance, the fund makes strategic investments at all start-up stages and incubates new automotive entrepreneurs at the cutting edge of next-generation systems for the automotive industry.