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After years of aggressive expansion at home, China\u2019s autonomous vehicle upstarts are now setting their gaze on overseas markets. WeRide, in particular, has been on a licensing spree.<\/p>\n
On Monday, WeRide announced<\/a> it has obtained two licenses from Singapore that will allow its robobuses to test on public roads on a \u201clarger\u201d scale. The two permits, called M1 and T1 respectively, are granted by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) of Singapore and will enable WeRide\u2019s self-driving buses to test in areas including the One North tech cluster and the National University of Singapore.<\/span><\/p>\n The news came just five months after WeRide announced<\/a> it had secured a self-driving license to test its robotaxis on open roads in the United Arab Emirates, which has a bold agenda to automate its transport system. The company also holds various levels of AV permits in the U.S. and its home country China.<\/p>\n In recent years, China\u2019s AV companies have taken a turn to ramp up their commercial efforts, thus placing relatively less emphasis on the cash-hemorhaging pursuit of Level 4 robotaxis. Deeproute, for example, is forging closer ties with car manufacturers<\/a>, while others, such as WeRide, are investing in autonomous buses that move at a lower speed, in fixed routes, and have less unpredictable traffic conditions to navigate.<\/p>\n As one of the densest cities in the world with an aging workforce, Singapore started its push into AVs in 2014<\/a> as a means to cope with its land and manpower constraints. According to the LTA<\/a>, the city with over five million people has a measured approach to rolling out AVs and has completed the first phase in \u201ctest beds,\u201d or controlled environments.<\/p>\n The island state is now gearing up to enter the second phase of development, wherein AVs for passenger and utility purposes are allowed to operate in selected areas. It\u2019s attracted other global players in the self-driving arena, including the Aptiv-Hyundai joint venture Motional, which has been building<\/a> and testing robotaxis in the city<\/a>.<\/p>\n One of the licenses that WeRide obtained is called Milestone 1 or M1, which, according to the LTA\u2019s categorization<\/a>, denotes that AVs can test on open roads in certain areas with safety operators who have full control of the vehicles.<\/p>\n Entering a foreign market takes months if not years of relationship building with regulators and business partners, and WeRide has been diligently preparing. Its list of investors, which together have shelled out over $1.4 billion <\/a>in funding, include<\/a> SMRT, a major public transport operator in Singapore, and K3 Ventures, a local investment firm.<\/p>\n On the business side, WeRide recently signed strategic cooperation agreements with Woodlands Transport Services, one of the country\u2019s largest private transport operators, and bus service company EZ Buzz.<\/p>\n WeRide has become a poster child in the wave of Chinese tech firms expanding to Singapore, attracting the attention of high-profile political figures. In March, the city-state\u2019s prime minister Lee Hsien Loong\u00a0took a ride<\/a> in a WeRide robotaxi on his visit to China. Singapore is a \u201cregional center\u201d for the company\u2019s Asia-Pacific market expansion, WeRide\u2019s founder and CEO Tony Han said during his reception of Lee\u2019s entourage.<\/p>\n As one of China\u2019s most-funded AV companies, WeRide was valued at $4.4 billion last year and confidentially filed to go public<\/a> in the U.S. in March.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n