National Business Wire (Dec 26) -- Chinese self-driving startup WeRide is reportedly eyeing entry into more markets in Southeast Asia, Europe and South America.
Tony Han, founder and chief executive of WeRide, said in an interview that the company is considering entering more key markets in Southeast Asia, Europe and South America after it recently received a self-driving licence in Singapore, Chinese media outlet Yicai reported on Tuesday.
The company's targets include developed countries with advanced information and transport infrastructure, such as those in Europe, Japan and South Korea, as well as potentially lucrative markets in South America like Argentina and Brazil, he said.
WeRide has already started in the Middle East and is looking at expanding into North African markets, including Morocco, which is close to the Middle East, Han said.
Founded in 2017 and backed by Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., the Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance, IDG Capital and others, WeRide is a company specialising in Level 4 autonomous driving technology.
Earlier this month, the company announced that it had secured two licenses to test autonomous vehicles (AVs) from Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA).
Following the approvals, WeRide will be able to test its Robobus on a larger area of public roads in Singapore, covering key areas such as tech hub One North and the National University of Singapore (NUS).
The company also said it has become the world's first and so far only tech company to hold self-driving licences in China, the U.S., the UAE and Singapore at the same time.
WeRide is seeking a listing in the U.S., having received approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) for its IPO plans at the end of August.
The self-driving startup plans to issue up to 159,045,000 ordinary shares and list them on either the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq Stock Market, a CSRC release showed.
With the completion of its Series D+ funding round in November 2022, WeRide has a valuation of $5.1 billion.
