WeRide is partnering with Uber to bring robotaxis to 15 cities. Its CEO says the deal will help make them safer than human drivers.

Chinese steadfast WeRide is the latest portion of Uber's robotaxi puzzle.

The 2 companies announced past week that WeRide's driverless taxis would beryllium coming to the Uber app successful 15 cities extracurricular the US and China implicit the adjacent 5 years. It did not uncover the database of cities.

The woody is the latest successful a bid that Uber has struck with self-driving companies, and WeRide's CEO told Business Insider that the expanded concern would supercharge the improvement of WeRide's autonomous vehicles.

"Uber's standard is precise important. There are immoderate long-tail problems, you person to person the scalability successful bid to find them," Tony Han told Business Insider.

For self-driving cars, "long-tail problems" notation to antithetic scenarios that seldom amusement up successful mundane driving, making them hard to simulate.

Training robotaxis to woody with these 'edge case' situations tin necessitate monolithic conveyance fleets and thousands of miles of real-world driving.

It's a occupation each robotaxi companies look — including Tesla's upcoming robotaxi work successful Texas, with CEO Elon Musk telling investors past period the automaker's fleet was driving "all implicit Austin successful circles" to place borderline cases earlier the June launch.

Han said operating its vehicles connected the Uber app crossed aggregate continents would springiness WeRide the accidental to beryllium the information of its technology, adding that the institution has yet to grounds an mishap successful implicit 2,000 days of robotaxi operation.

WeRide CEO Tony Han (top left) said the institution would leverage Uber's ride-hailing work to substance its planetary expansion. WeRide

"This volition conscionable person radical that taking WeRide's products and robotaxi work is safe. And our extremity is to marque robotaxi safer than a quality driver," said Han.

Founded successful 2017, WeRide has ridden China's robotaxi roar to a $4 cardinal valuation, and is 1 of the fewer Chinese autonomous conveyance companies to run beyond its location market.

The Guangzhou-based steadfast tests and operates a scope of autonomous vehicles — including robotaxis, robovans, and robo-road sweepers — crossed 10 countries.

WeRide's expanded concern with Uber, which besides saw the ride-hailing elephantine put an extra $100 cardinal successful the Chinese self-driving company, comes aft the 2 companies teamed up to motorboat a robotaxi work successful Abu Dhabi past year, with Dubai acceptable to travel soon.

Han told BI that the Abu Dhabi robotaxi work had been a success, with the institution "aggressively recruiting" section operational staff, and said the enlargement would instrumentality a "phased approach" with respective cities being added successful Europe and the Middle East implicit the adjacent 5 years.

"The woody with Uber gives america different furniture of confidence, due to the fact that Uber has already rolled retired their car-hailing work successful each of these countries," said Han.

"This volition really trim our efforts to a ample extent. We lone request to absorption connected autonomous driving exertion and applicable regulations. We don't request to interest excessively overmuch astir the car-hailing work part, astir the idiosyncratic acquisition part," helium added.

Global robotaxi contention heats up

Han has worked successful the autonomous conveyance manufacture successful China and the US.

Prior to founding WeRide successful 2017, helium was a prof of machine engineering astatine the University of Missouri and worked successful Silicon Valley arsenic Baidu's main scientist. He told BI that some the US and China person a wealthiness of method cognition and robotaxi know-how.

However, helium added that China's robotaxi manufacture has astatine slightest 2 advantages implicit its Pacific rival — the country's booming EV industry, which Han said drives innovation and keeps costs down, and its famously chaotic roads.

"In China, the fig of analyzable scenarios offers a precise bully investigating environment, which enables robust algorithm improvement for WeRide," Han said.

WeRide is 1 of a prime radical of Chinese robotaxi firms that person expanded extracurricular of China. WeRide

WeRide is 1 of a fistful of Chinese robotaxi firms with a licence to trial its vehicles connected nationalist roads successful California, but the institution has nary plans to statesman commercialized operations successful the US anytime soon.

Earlier this year, the outgoing Biden medication finalized rules efficaciously banning Chinese conveyance bundle from the US, which besides barred Chinese companies from testing robotaxis connected US roads.

Asked astir the caller rules, Han said the institution had nary commercialized operations successful the US and was focused connected markets successful Europe, the Middle East, Singapore, and perchance Japan.

"We person already got our hands full. There are a batch of things we request to bash successful the Middle East and European market," helium added.

China's self-driving roar hits a velocity bump

China has seen an detonation successful autonomous conveyance exertion successful caller years, with EV giants similar BYD offering operator assistance tech successful astir each their vehicles for free.

A caller survey by consulting steadfast AlixPartners recovered that much than fractional of the cars sold successful China past twelvemonth were equipped with precocious operator assistance systems (ADAS), which run immoderate conveyance functions but necessitate operator supervision, compared to little than 40% successful the US.

The robotaxi roar has deed a velocity bump successful caller months, however, with authorities issuing a sweeping overhaul of regulations aft a fatal clang involving a Xiaomi EV successful March.

Unlike BYD and Xiaomi, WeRide operates afloat autonomous robotaxis. The institution besides has a deal with German steadfast Bosch to usage its exertion successful operator assistance systems for rider cars successful China.

Han said that some robotaxis and ADAS-equipped vehicles needed to spell done "a precise thorough process" to guarantee they were harmless to operate.

"No substance if you are driving a backstage car oregon you are sitting successful a robotaxi, we privation quality proscription to beryllium overmuch much reliable and overmuch safer. So I deliberation information is ever the priority," helium said.