WeRide expands autonomous driving testing area to Guangzhou’s CBD

WeRide, China’s leading autonomous driving company, announced it has won approval to expand its test driving area to roads in Guangzhou’s Haizhu District. Besides testing, WeRide will soon provide advanced autonomous driving services to the public, allowing more people in Guangzhou to hop in a Robotaxi in the city’s busy urban center. WeRide becomes the first to test autonomous driving cars in core urban areas of a first-tier Chinese city.

The first test roads in Haizhu District have a total length of about 11 kilometers. As Class-two test roads, self-driving tests with or without safety drivers on the driver’s seat are allowed. Landmarks in the test area include the Canton Tower, the Zhujiang Party Pier, pavilions for the Canton Fair, the Pazhou Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal, and the Shangri-La Hotel. The area is the commercial center of Guangzhou’s urban district.

This is the first time autonomous driving road tests have been allowed in urban centers in China that include busy landmarks.

Headquartered in Guangzhou, WeRide has delivered many firsts in the field of autonomous driving in China. In November, 2019, WeRide launched its Robotaxi service in Huangpu District, Guangzhou, carrying passenger on 144 square kilometers of roads in core urban areas, enabling Guangzhou to become the first city in the world to offer publicly accessible Robotaxi services.

More than a year on, over 60,000 passengers have been safely delivered to their destinations with 140,000 Robotaxi rides. Twenty-eight percent of WeRide’s Robotaxi passengers used the service at least once a week. WeRide’s promotion of self-driving service has gained popular support in the town, with Robotaxi gradually becoming a part of everyday life for people in Guangzhou.

Safe and stable operations of WeRide’s Robotaxi is why the company received one of China’s first fully driverless road test licenses, starting the first driverless road tests in Guangzhou. The tests have been going on for more than six months and have driven more than 40,000 autonomous driving kilometers. In September 2020, WeRide’s autonomous driving cars cruised in ‘Villages in the City’ (ViCs) , where traffic rules barely apply in their congested streets, with no human intervention.

With safety as top priority, WeRide is committed to orderly self-driving tests. From crowded ViCs to Guangzhou’s busy downtown, WeRide has been improving the stability and safety of its self-driving technology and will soon bring its success to rollouts in other cities.