WeRide’s Robotaxis Available on Alibaba’s Amap to Roll Out Mobility Service in Guangzhou
(June 23, 2020, Guangzhou, China) WeRide, China’s leading L4 autonomous driving company, announces partnership with Alibaba’s Amap (also known as AutoNavi) , a mobility aggregator service platform. Under this partnership, WeRide’s Robotaxis service will become available to citizens in Guangzhou through Amap app, one of the most widely-used ride hailing apps in China. Starting from today the service will be free of charge for the first month.
WeRide’s Robotaxis service is the first autonomous taxi ride service available to the public in China and has been in operation through WeRide’s owned ride-hailing app “WeRide Go” for the past 5 months. Consumers can now also use Amap app to hail a Robotaxi from 8am to 10pm every day. The Robotaxi service covers an operation area of 144 square kilometers across the Huangpu and Guangzhou Development District in Guangzhou, China. Currently there are over 200 pick-up/drop-off spots.
WeRide Chief Operating Officer Li Zhang announced: “WeRide is developing its technology and operation in parallel. We have launched our own hailing application WeRide Go for Robotaxi and are keen to collaborate with more ride-hailing platforms. Our cooperation with Amap will bring WeRide’s Robotaxi to a more developed mobility market. More people could enjoy our Robotaxi service through the collaboration. Together we will explore and build a new kind of business in the future-looking autonomous mobility market.”
“Amap is always dedicated in exploring cutting-edge technologies and innovative models with our partners, and we have been exploring smart mobility services over the years.” A spokesperson from Amap said: “We believe the integration of sharing economy and autonomous driving is an important trend for transportation, and the partnership of this kind will innovate the ride-hailing industry for future mobility.”
From Owned Platform to Integrated Platforms, WeRide Continues to Expand Its Robotaxi Hailing Options
WeRide has always been a frontrunner in Robotaxi commercialization. After launching China’s first Robotaxi in November 2018, WeRide initiated the first publicly accessible Robotaxi service in November 2019.
WeRide Go is the only application that covers the whole process of Robotaxi hailing service available to the public in China market. WeRide Go’s application in the past 5 months not only enables WeRide to constantly upgrade its self-driving technology, but also prepares its Robotaxis to better adapt to hailing platforms like Amap in the developed mobility market.
In December 2019, the first month of WeRide Robotaxi operation, the company completed 8,396 orders with a total travel mileage of 41,140 km and 0 safety incident.
Robotaxi service is gradually becoming a part of people’s life in Huangpu. By joining Amap, WeRide’s Robotaxis are now available to a broader market. The two companies look forward to long term collaboration. WeRide will expand the service coverage area and the fleet size so that its Robotaxi service will benefit more consumers in the near future.
Exploring the Future Mobility with More Partners
The cooperation between WeRide and Amap pairs China’s first publicly available robotaxi service with an innovative mobility aggregator. As a pioneer in autonomous driving industry, WeRide is a trusted partner in the mobility industry to drive more novel collaborations in the future.
