The company has secured a Level 1 licence for autonomous vehicle testing on public roads, as well as a T1 assessment licence for public path testing, from the Land Transport Authority of Singapore, WeRide said. These licences allow it to conduct extensive tests of its robobuses on public roads in areas such as One North and the National University of Singapore.
The company has made progress in the autonomous driving industry since being founded in 2017 by Tony Han, who serves as its CEO.
“We appreciate the strong support from the Singapore government and local partners,” Han said. “This achievement in Singapore is another major milestone for our international business development.
“We will accelerate the delivery of high-quality autonomous driving technology, products, and services to the local community and the entire Southeast Asia region.”
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Baidu wins permits to offer fully driverless robotaxi service in Beijing
Baidu wins permits to offer fully driverless robotaxi service in Beijing
It is its first national-level approval in the region and allows all of WeRide’s autonomous driving vehicles – including robotaxis, robobuses, robovans and robosweepers – to undergo road tests and operations on public roads throughout the UAE.
Currently, WeRide operates a fleet of 10 vehicles in the UAE, consisting of eight robotaxis and two robobuses. The company plans to have hundreds of vehicles on the country’s roads by 2025, in line with its mobility strategy and its commitment to advancing technological innovation in transport.
While the exact operational timeline for Singapore has yet to be finalised, the Lion City licences represent a significant milestone in WeRide’s global expansion plans, according to the company. The licences are particularly noteworthy because of Singapore’s stringent safety requirements, WeRide added.
The assessment process covered various dimensions, including basic autonomous driving functions, static obstacle recognition, dynamic obstacle avoidance, redundancy in vehicle control by safety drivers and the overall vehicle safety performance.
With these permits, WeRide is the first and, as of now, the only technology start-up in the world to hold autonomous driving licences in China, the United States, the UAE and Singapore.
WeRide became the earliest company to operate a commercial robotaxi service in China after it launched a service for the public in Guangzhou in 2019.