WeRide

What WeRide is

WeRide is an autonomous driving company. Its core platform is WeRide One, which the company says spans L2 to L4 autonomy^[1]. On the commonly used scale of driving automation, L2 means the vehicle takes over some steering and speed control while a human still monitors the road, and L4 means the vehicle can drive with no human at the wheel inside a defined area. A single platform covering both ends of that range means one software stack is meant to serve cars sold to ordinary drivers as well as fully driverless fleets.

Its product line lists five core products: Robotaxi, Robobus, Robosweeper, Robovan and an end-to-end ADAS system^[1]. The names point to the intended uses: passenger cars hailed as a service, small buses, street-cleaning vehicles, delivery vans, and driver-assistance software.

Origins

WeRide was established in Silicon Valley in 2017 by Tony Han, former chief scientist of Baidu's autonomous driving unit^[2]. That background explains the shape the company took: a software-first team that started with the self-driving stack and then built vehicles and services around it.

Permits and where it operates

WeRide holds driverless permits in nine countries: China, the United States, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Switzerland, Singapore, Spain and France^[2]. Its autonomous vehicles have been deployed in more than 60 cities across 13 countries^[1][2]. It has offices in San Jose, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, and more than 2,000 employees as of 2025^[2].

The list of offices and permits shows a company working in two home regions at once — mainland China and the Middle East — alongside a spread of testing and operating permissions in Europe and Southeast Asia.

Milestones

In November 2020 it reported 147,128 trips for more than 60,000 passengers in its first year of robotaxi service^[2]. In January 2021 it launched the Mini Robobus, and in April 2021 it obtained a driverless test permit in California^[2]. In December 2021 it completed an autonomous taxi trial on Yas Island in the UAE with Bayanat^[2]. In 2023 it was granted the UAE's first national licence for self-driving vehicles on public roads^[2]. In April 2024 it launched the Robosweeper S1, and in May 2024 it announced a partnership with Renault Group^[2].

Read in order, these milestones move from carrying passengers in a single city, to testing in a new country, to holding a national road licence there, to selling or partnering on vehicles with an established carmaker.

Where it sits

The product list is broader than passenger transport. Robotaxi and Robobus carry people, while Robosweeper and Robovan do work — cleaning streets and moving goods — on routes that are usually fixed and slower, which is generally easier to automate than open passenger service. The end-to-end ADAS system faces the opposite direction, toward cars that people drive themselves with assistance.

Because driverless operation depends on permission as much as on technology, the count of permits and cities is as much a measure of the company's position as its engineering. Nine countries of driverless permits and deployment in more than 60 cities across 13 countries place it among the self-driving firms that operate internationally rather than in a single market^[1][2].