Chinese autonomous driving mobility company, WeRide, has announced the launch of a new joint venture company – WeRide RoboTaxi, together with transportation firms Baiyun Taxi Group and SCI (Guangzhou) Group.
The new MaaS solution will be the first of is kind to operate in the Chinese tier one city of Guangzhou, and the project marks the culmination of WeRide’s efforts to form strategic partnerships between AI developers, vehicle manufacturers and mobility service platforms.
The group has been collaborating on vehicle retrofits, algorithm optimisation, fleet operation, 5G network applications and more. In November 2018, WeRide, Baiyun Taxi and GAC launched China’s first SAE Level 4 autonomous taxi.
Tony Han, CEO and co-founder of WeRide, said: “This joint venture marks a milestone in the progress commercialising WeRide’s autonomous driving technology. We will join hands with more partners throughout the mobility industry to explore further possibilities of autonomous driving in a much wider range. We are committed to creating safer, more economical, convenient and comfortable mobility with our autonomous driving technology.”
Zhicheng Deng, chairman of Baiyun Taxi Group, added: “Baiyun Taxi is committed to promoting the development of public transport in smart cities. The cooperation with WeRide has implanted genes of technological innovation into the traditional taxi industry. We will employ autonomous driving technologies to stay ahead of our competitors and continue to play an important role in the public transport sector in the future of smart cities.”
