WeRide Touts Global Robotaxi Scale, 90% Revenue Surge at Deutsche Bank DR Investor Conference

Key Points

• WeRide says it operates one of the world’s largest autonomous fleets — more than 2,100 L4 vehicles and over 1,100 robotaxis — active in 12 countries and 40+ cities, with regulatory permits in eight countries and a profitable Middle East subsidiary running 200+ robotaxis after securing UAE nationwide licensing.
• The company reported full-year 2025 revenue of RMB 685 million (up 90% YoY) with robotaxi revenue up 210% to RMB 148 million (22% of sales), while unit economics improved — total cost of ownership down 38%, remote assistance ratio improved to 1:40, and WeRide expects China breakeven “in the next year or so” as net losses continue to narrow.

WeRide NASDAQ: WRD used a presentation at Deutsche Bank’s Depositary Receipts Virtual Investor Conference to highlight its global autonomous driving operations, recent financial performance, and progress on robotaxi unit economics and technology development.

Global operations and fleet scale

A company representative described WeRide as a “global leader in autonomous driving and technology,” with a mission to “transform urban living with autonomous driving.” The representative said the company is building a “universal autonomous driving platform” spanning “from L2+ passenger vehicle solution all the way to full driverless L4 mobility services.”

Operationally, the representative said WeRide is active in 12 countries and more than 40 cities through trial and commercial operations across regions including China, the Middle East, Europe, Southeast Asia, and North Asia. The company also said it manages “one of the world’s largest autonomous fleet,” including more than 2,100 L4 autonomous vehicles and more than 1,100 robotaxis.

Robotaxi metrics, cost reductions, and China expansion

WeRide shared several operational metrics tied to robotaxi economics. The representative said total cost of ownership has decreased 38%, attributing the improvement to higher operational efficiency and lower vehicle bill-of-materials (BOM) cost. The company also highlighted progress in its “remote assistance ratio,” saying it improved from 1-to-10 in 2024—one remote safety officer overseeing 10 vehicles—to 1-to-40 more recently.

In China, WeRide said it has more than 800 robotaxis operating daily, mainly in Beijing and Guangzhou, and said that “soon in Shenzhen you will see a lot of our robotaxis running on the street.” The representative said the official operational design domain (ODD) covers more than 1,000 square kilometers. On utilization, WeRide reported that over the past six months it averaged 15 daily orders per robotaxi, with peak times reaching 26.

While stating that China robotaxi operations are “not breakeven yet,” the representative said the company sees “a high likelihood” of reaching breakeven “in the next year or so,” citing ODD expansion. The representative added that WeRide’s fleet outside China is “way past the breakeven point.” In China, the company also reported 900% year-over-year growth in registered users and said it launched “Free PUDO,” enabling unlimited pickup and drop-off point selection within the ODD—an approach the representative compared to major ride-hailing platforms. WeRide also said it has worked with Alibaba’s Amap and WeChat’s mobility program and mini program to broaden domestic reach.

Middle East and Europe permitting milestones

WeRide pointed to permitting and market access as a key differentiator for international scaling. The representative said WeRide has autonomous driving permits in eight countries and has deployed autonomous vehicles in 12 countries, with more than 250 robotaxis outside China.

The Middle East was described as a “standout success story.” The representative said WeRide became the first company to secure a nationwide autonomous driving license from the UAE federal government two years ago, and “last year” became the first to secure a city-level, fully driverless robotaxi commercial permit outside the U.S. In Abu Dhabi, the representative said WeRide’s service covers nearly 70% of the city core area, and that on the WeRide-and-Uber platform operations it is “reaching to the break-even point under the driver-out operation.” The representative added that WeRide’s Middle East subsidiary “already is a profitable entity for the past two years,” and said WeRide has launched public robotaxi rides in Dubai and is “the only public robotaxi service provider in Riyadh,” with more than 200 robotaxis in the region.

In Europe, the representative said WeRide secured the first driverless robotaxi permit for passenger service in Switzerland and is expanding to Slovakia and other markets, adding that the company expects to announce entry into “another two European key cities” this year.

L2+ product progress and “WeRide One” platform

On its advanced driver assistance efforts, WeRide said it launched WeRide WePilot 3.0, described as a “high-end L2++” solution. The representative said WeRide works with Bosch and has OEM partnerships including Chery and GAC, and claimed “three consecutive wins” in national urban NOA competitions. In describing competition scoring, the representative said WeRide’s system typically required “very little intervention or no intervention” and posted shorter completion times, which the company linked to driving efficiency.

The representative also outlined WeRide’s “WeRide One” platform, describing it as a universal autonomous driving technology platform integrating software, hardware, and cloud infrastructure across product categories from L2+ to L4. The representative said this reuse “dramatically shorten[s] the iteration cycles and reduce[s] the marginal R&D cost per new product.” WeRide also described a “dual data flywheel” between L2+ and L4, where data from WePilot 3.0 feeds into L4 development.

Another technology discussed was “WeRide Genesis,” described as a generative simulation environment that can generate virtual driving environments quickly to support safety validation and scenario expansion, which the representative said can reduce on-road testing cost while improving safety validation.

Upgraded GXR robotaxi and financial results

WeRide said it upgraded its GXR robotaxi to a “pre-installed version” built at the OEM factory with sensors mounted and “100% automotive-grade” computing. The representative said the system delivers “2,000 tops” of compute performance. The company also said it uses “a thousand-line LiDAR,” and later cited an extended detection range to 600 meters and a 17x increase in point cloud resolution.

Financially, the representative said WeRide published full-year 2025 results showing annual revenue of RMB 685 million, up 90% year over year. The company said robotaxi revenue grew 210% year over year to RMB 148 million, increasing its revenue contribution from 13% to 22%. The representative said gross margin remained “quite stable” at 30% and that net loss narrowed, adding that WeRide expects net loss to continue shrinking over the next few years “until we get to the break-even point.”

In Q&A, the representative said increased interest from L2+ peers in robotaxis validates the long-term importance of L4, but argued that moving from L2+ to scalable L4 is “not a linear extension,” pointing to requirements including safety redundancy, regulatory approval, fleet operations, and unit economics. On the GXR upgrade, the representative attributed cost reductions to a roughly 15% BOM reduction from compute upgrades, sensor optimization, and factory pre-installation that reduced assembly time to below 10 minutes, while noting that broader total cost of ownership improvements were also driven by utilization and the improved remote assistance ratio.

About WeRide NASDAQ: WRD

WeRide Inc NASDAQ: WRD is a developer of autonomous driving technology focused on providing Level 4 (L4) self-driving solutions for passenger mobility and logistics. The company's full-stack platform integrates sensors, computing hardware, software algorithms and vehicle controls to enable driverless taxis, shuttles and goods delivery vehicles. By combining perception, planning and controls in a turnkey system, WeRide aims to accelerate the commercialization of robotaxi services and autonomous fleet operations.

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Guangzhou, China, WeRide maintains research and development centers in Silicon Valley and China.

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