Shares of WeRide begin buying and selling on Hong Kong’s inventory change at present, simply over a yr after the robotaxi agency forayed into U.S. markets with a Nasdaq itemizing. For CEO and founder Tony Han, the providing is a part of a worldwide technique to fund the costly however mandatory analysis behind the corporate’s autonomous-driving tech.
WeRide’s shares at the moment are listed on each the Nasdaq and the Hong Kong Inventory Change. WeRide elected for a twin major itemizing, which can enable mainland Chinese language traders to purchase the inventory via the town’s Southbound Inventory Join scheme.
“We want to make our stock more accessible to investors all over the world,” Han informed Fortune in late October, on the sidelines of the Fortune International Discussion board. “China is a very important market, both for consumers and also for investors. A Hong Kong dual listing actually helps some potential investors who can only invest in the Hong Kong stock market to buy our stock.”
Han says the funds raised via the Hong Kong itemizing will assist the robotaxi agency proceed to spend on R&D and deployment. “We will still need to raise more funds,” he stated, “so this will put WeRide in a much better position to access more funds.”
Fellow robotaxi agency Pony AI additionally begins buying and selling in Hong Kong at present after its personal IPO on that change. Like WeRide, Pony AI listed on the Nasdaq late final yr.
Hong Kong’s IPO market is booming as Chinese language companies hope to leverage the town’s entry to each worldwide and mainland Chinese language capital. Companies listed in mainland China, together with residence equipment producer Midea and battery-maker CATL, have launched secondary listings in Hong Kong so as to draw worldwide funding.
But a number of U.S.-listed Chinese language corporations are additionally contemplating major listings in Hong Kong so as to entry mainland Chinese language traders. There’s additionally a geopolitical dimension: U.S.-listed Chinese language companies may even see Hong Kong as a backup within the occasion the Trump administration decides to delist them from U.S. exchanges, as a part of a years-long dispute between Washington and Beijing over auditing requirements.
The town’s Southbound Inventory Join scheme permits licensed traders in mainland China to purchase shares listed in Hong Kong. Southbound flows hit a report $110 billion within the first seven months of the yr, based on the South China Morning Put up citing knowledge from Wind, already larger than all the complete in 2024.
Traders are flocking to AI companies and “new consumption”—suppose Pop Mart and Labubu. Hong Kong’s benchmark Cling Seng Index is up round 32% for the yr to this point; by comparability, the Nasdaq Golden Dragon index, which tracks U.S.-listed Chinese language corporations, is up 22%.
WeRide raised $308 million in its Hong Kong IPO, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. Shares have been priced at 27.10 Hong Kong {dollars}, a slight low cost to the inventory’s Nasdaq worth at Monday’s shut.
WeRide HK-listed shares fell nearly 12% on their first day of Hong Kong buying and selling; the agency’s shares have misplaced over 40% of their worth for the reason that U.S. IPO. Pony AI’s HK shares fell round 14%.
Self-driving vehicles: A social good?
Tony Han, previously the chief scientist at Baidu’s autonomous automobile unit, based WeRide in 2017. Primarily based in Guangzhou, the self-driving automobile firm operates in a number of main Chinese language cities, in addition to markets outdoors of China. The corporate has pilot packages in Singapore, France, Spain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, amongst others. As of November, WeRide is now testing or working automobiles in 30 cities throughout 10 nations.
WeRide is a member of this yr’s Future 50, Fortune’s annual rating of corporations with the best potential for development. The agency can be a member of this yr’s Change the World checklist, which highlights corporations which might be doing social good via their enterprise fashions.
Han evangelizes the various ways in which self-driving automobiles—and shifting away from a car-centric tradition—can enhance society. He predicts that accident charges shall be “drastically reduced” as soon as vehicles are put within the arms of computer systems versus people.
Renault and WeRide’s autonomous Robo Minibus present process take a look at, runs in Barcelona on February 14, 2025.
Josep Lago—AFP through Getty Pictures
“Most accidents, we find, are due to human factors,” Han defined, citing the consequences of ingesting, drowsiness, and distractions on human drivers. “Machines won’t be drunk, won’t overdose. Machines are very reliable. Fatal accident rates for robotaxis are much lower than human drivers.”
Much less congestion could possibly be one other advantage of automated automobiles. “Robotaxis will never speed, will never just cut in line,” he stated. “Traffic will just flow much more smoothly.”
There’s a broader financial argument for self-driving vehicles in nations whose populations are quickly getting old as beginning charges decline—a very thorny drawback in China and elsewhere in Asia. “With such huge markets, we will need lots of labor in transport and mobility,” Han stated. “If we are short-handed, then we have to use AI to replace the shortage, to fill the gap between demand and requirements.”
That extends to public transport and public companies. WeRide runs robobuses, robosweepers, and different automated types of public transit and metropolis automobiles. “The cost of bus drivers in a developed economy is quite high,” Han defined. If these prices could be diminished via automation, he argued, then cities can develop their transit methods and “help build more eco-friendly transportation for the whole planet.”
The robotaxi enterprise
WeRide reported $27.9 million in income for the primary six months of 2025, a 32% soar from the identical interval a yr earlier. Nonetheless, the corporate reported a $110 million web loss for that very same interval, due largely to spending of $90 million on analysis and growth, approaching the $107 million spent on R&D for all of 2024.
Robotaxis stay an costly and unprofitable proposition. An HSBC report in July identified that self-driving vehicles have plenty of hidden prices, together with distant supervisors, charging and parking infrastructure, and tech assist. The financial institution prompt that robotaxis may not break even till about eight years after launch.
But HSBC additionally predicted that robotaxis will possible attain their business potential in China first, as a consequence of larger adoption and acceptance of robotaxi applied sciences.
Chinese language corporations are main the worldwide push for robotaxis. Along with WeRide and Pony AI, Baidu can be increasing its robotaxi choices via its Apollo Go automobiles.
China additionally manufactures lots of the parts that go into self-driving vehicles. One key element producer is Hesai Expertise, the world’s main producer of automotive lidar sensors, that are utilized by robotaxis and different autonomous automobiles to acknowledge their setting and keep away from obstacles.
International ride-share corporations are taking discover. WeRide is providing its Center Japanese robotaxis via a partnership with Uber. Singaporean ride-hailing agency Seize has additionally made a strategic fairness funding in WeRide, and is working with the Chinese language agency to supply robobuses in Singapore beginning subsequent yr.
Singaporean transit firm ComfortDelGro, in the meantime, is working with Pony AI to discover providing robotaxis, whereas Lyft is collaborating with Baidu to check its Apollo Go self-driving vehicles in Europe.
By comparability, U.S.-based robotaxi operations are proving to be quite a bit slower in world enlargement. Waymo presently operates in Tokyo and London.
Han isn’t stunned that world companies at the moment are embracing Chinese language robotaxis. In any case, if China presents one of the best product, why wouldn’t overseas companies wish to cooperate with it?
“When I was a teenager, we bought electronics from Japan, tools from Germany and computers from the U.S. It’s very normal. It’s very normal,” Han stated.
“If WeRide can supply good robotaxi technology and services to Uber, and in turn, Uber and WeRide together bring a very efficient and comfortable taxi service to ordinary people; why shouldn’t we do that?”
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