WERIDE, a Chinese developer of autonomous driving technologies, has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States, yicai.com reported.

Morgan Stanley Asia, J.P. Morgan Securities, and China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities are underwriters, according to WeRide’s filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday. The Guangzhou-based firm was valued at around US$5.1 billion in November 2022.

The proceeds will mainly be used for research and development, commercialization and operation of autonomous driving fleets, marketing, and capital expenditures, including buying testing vehicles, R&D facilities, and covering administrative expenses for general corporate purposes, WeRide noted, without disclosing how much it will raise from the listing.

Established in 2017, WeRide provides self-driving products and services from Level-2 to Level-4, catering to use on open roads, including in mobility, logistics, and sanitation industries with services such as Robotaxi, Robobus, Robovan, Robosweeper, and advanced driving solutions. Investors in WeRide include GAC Asset Capital, Bosch, Yutong, and Nvidia.

WeRide’s net loss widened 22% to 881.7 million yuan (US$121.4 million) in the first six months of this year compared to a year ago, while its revenue fell 17.8% to 150.3 million yuan. Its loss was 1.98 billion yuan last year on revenue of 401.8 million yuan, 1.3 billion yuan on revenue of 527.5 million yuan in 2022, and 1 billion yuan on revenue of 138.2 million yuan in 2021.

R&D expenses of WeRide totaled 1.1 billion yuan in 2023, 758.6 million yuan in 2022, and 443.2 million yuan in 2021. The company has launched autonomous driving R&D, testing, and operations in 30 cities across seven countries and holds self-driving licenses in China, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and Singapore.

WeRide’s Robotaxi service, accessible through the WeRide Go app, is its main shared mobility platform, while it also collaborates with other such platforms to expand its market reach. The firm began offering paid robotaxi services to the public in November 2019, completing 1,700 days of commercial operations on open roads in China and the Middle East with zero accidents.

WeRide plans to commence commercial production of robotaxis this year and achieve readiness for large-scale commercialization next year.

WeRide allies with Yutong and Golden Dragon for Robobuses, receiving intent orders for around 2,000 units.

It has also secured over 10,000 intent orders for its Robovans, while its Robosweeper, the WeRide S6, is the world’s first purpose-built such vehicle, which has been in commercial production since early 2022 and is being tested in nine cities.

Its ADAS solution has been integrated into some Chery Automobile models via a partnership with Bosch as a supplier.

Pony.ai and Momenta, two other Chinese self-driving startups, respectively submitted their IPO applications to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the United States in April and June this year.

(SD-Agencies)