WeRide receives California permit to test driverless vehicles and releases 2-hour non-stop driverless test video with no intervention
WeRide, a leading autonomous driving mobility company, received a permit from the California’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) on April 12th to conduct driverless testing on public roads in San Jose without safety driver inside the vehicles. This is another breakthrough for WeRide since being granted the first such permit in China in July 2020, making it the first startup in the world holding driverless test permits in both China and the US.
As of April, 2021, WeRide’s driverless mileage has exceeded 100,000 kilometers (the company’s total autonomous mileage has reached over 4,500,000 kilometers, including that of driverless testing, autonomous testing and its Robotaxi operation) . The video below shows a two-hour, 50 miles non-stop driverless road test conducted by WeRide in China’s Guangzhou in 2020.
In this video, WeRide’s driverless vehicle successfully navigated through complex traffic scenarios including arterial roads, secondary arterial roads, express roads, tunnels, toll stations, highways, and smoothly completed different kinds of maneuvers from driving at normal speed, yielding, reversing, bypassing to changing lanes and overtaking other vehicles. The cameras offer a comprehensive, clear and synchronous view of the empty driver’s seat, steering wheel, and the traffic conditions in front.
WeRide is committed to providing safe, stable, and compliant driverless mobility services. Its active exploration of technologies, operations and business models allows it to have achieved many firsts in the industry. Since November 2019, WeRide has provided continuous, stable and safe Robotaxi service to the public in Guangzhou. As the first city in China to allow driverless testing, Guangzhou granted the country’s first permit to WeRide in July 2020.
Tony Han, Founder and CEO of WeRide, set ‘stability’ as the company’s goal for 2020 and put its technical focus on strengthening system stability and achieving safe and fully autonomous driving. After nearly a year of continuous efforts in testing, WeRide’s driverless system is rapidly iterated and has been applied to the new product of Mini Robobuses, boasting driverless mobility service with both Robotaxis and Robobuses.
Today, the issuance of the California permit gives WeRide a new drive for its self-driving fleet of more than 100 vehicles in both China and the US. As Tony Han pointed out, “Through our driverless tests in both China and the US, WeRide will be able to give full play to the advantages of technology, talents and policies in both countries, enhance public confidence with stable and reliable technology and promote the commercialization of the driverless service in the next few years.”
About WeRide
WeRide is a smart mobility company that develops leading L4 autonomous driving technologies. It is the first self-driving company to obtain strategic investment from top-tier global automakers, which include Alliance Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi and Yutong Group, as well as the first startup in the world holding driverless test permits in both China and the US.
Since its inception, WeRide has utilized strategic alliances among AI technology companies, car makers and mobility service platforms in order to achieve the goal of commercialized autonomous driving. WeRide launched the first ever publicly accessible Robotaxi service in the first-tier Chinese city of Guangzhou in November 2019, covering an area of 144 square kilometers in Huangpu District and Guangzhou Development District. In June 2020, WeRide’s Robotaxi service became available to the public through Amap, a popular ride-hailing mobile app in China, thus entering a more mature market. A total of 147,128 trips were completed for more than 60,000 passengers during the first year of WeRide Robotaxi services.
Established in 2017, WeRide is headquartered in Guangzhou, China, and maintains R&D and operation centers in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, Zhengzhou and Anqing, as well as Silicon Valley in the USA. It employs a highly skilled team and has extensive domestic and international experience in R&D, business models and business operations.
For more information, please visit website: www.weride.ai; Medium: https://werideai.medium.com/; twitter/LinkedIn: WeRide.ai; YouTube: WeRide Autonomous Driving.
