Self-driving tech company WeRide accelerates global expansion as transportation industry adopts AI

Self-driving technology firm WeRide is accelerating its global expansion as the artificial intelligence boom boosts adoption of machine learning in transportation.

"... Logistics delivery and waste transport — these two areas have been moving forward, from indoor robotics to outdoor robotics to autonomous outdoors. Things are moving relatively fast because of the development of AI right now," said Sebastian Yee, Singapore director of business development at WeRide.

In June, the firm began safety testing for "Robosweepers" in Singapore, following similar rollouts in multiple cities in China.

After passing safety testing, these vehicles will operate fully autonomous without a safety driver. These AI-powered vehicles can perform various sanitation tasks such as road sweeping, water spraying and disinfection, as well as detect road conditions and avoid pedestrians and obstacles.

In the same month, WeRide also deployed an autonomous public shuttle bus service with a safety driver onboard, at Resorts World Sentosa, a resort island south of Singapore.

Founded in Silicon Valley in 2017, the firm launched a robotaxi service in Guangzhou, China in 2019 and has received strategic investments from global automakers like the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance and GAC Group.

The firm develops and tests a range of autonomous driving technologies with the most advanced being one where the vehicle can drive on its own, but still has a safety driver behind the wheel as a precaution.

"WeRide is the only company which has [driverless] permits from the U.S., China, UAE and Singapore. Some [companies] just have permits from one or two countries, but we have four countries," said Kerry Xu, Singapore general manager of WeRide.

"We are not just a China