Shares of WeRide begin buying and selling on Hong Kong’s inventory change at the moment, simply over a 12 months 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 world technique to fund the costly however vital 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 Alternate. WeRide elected for a twin major itemizing, which can permit mainland Chinese language buyers to purchase the inventory by means of the town’s Southbound Inventory Join scheme.
“We need to make our inventory extra accessible to buyers all around the world,” Han instructed Fortune in late October, on the sidelines of the Fortune International Discussion board. “China is a vital market, each for shoppers and in addition for buyers. A Hong Kong twin itemizing truly helps some potential buyers who can solely put money into the Hong Kong inventory market to purchase our inventory.”
Han says the funds raised by means of the Hong Kong itemizing will assist the robotaxi agency proceed to spend on R&D and deployment. “We are going to nonetheless want to lift extra funds,” he mentioned, “so this can put WeRide in a a lot better place to entry extra funds.”
Fellow robotaxi agency Pony AI additionally begins buying and selling in Hong Kong at the moment after its personal IPO on that change. Like WeRide, Pony AI listed on the Nasdaq late final 12 months.
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. Corporations listed in mainland China, together with dwelling equipment producer Midea and battery-maker CATL, have launched secondary listings in Hong Kong with a view to draw worldwide funding.
But a number of U.S.-listed Chinese language corporations are additionally contemplating major listings in Hong Kong with a view to entry mainland Chinese language buyers. There’s additionally a geopolitical dimension: U.S.-listed Chinese language companies might 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 buyers in mainland China to purchase shares listed in Hong Kong. Southbound flows hit a document $110 billion within the first seven months of the 12 months, in response to the South China Morning Submit citing information from Wind, already higher than your entire complete in 2024.
Traders are flocking to AI companies and “new consumption”—assume Pop Mart and Labubu. Hong Kong’s benchmark Hold Seng Index is up round 32% for the 12 months up to now; 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 car unit, based WeRide in 2017. Based mostly in Guangzhou, the self-driving car firm operates in a number of main Chinese language cities, in addition to markets exterior 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 autos in 30 cities throughout 10 nations.
WeRide is a member of this 12 months’s Future 50, Fortune’s annual rating of corporations with the best potential for development. The agency can be a member of this 12 months’s Change the World record, which highlights corporations which might be doing social good by means of their enterprise fashions.
Han evangelizes the numerous ways in which self-driving autos—and shifting away from a car-centric tradition—can enhance society. He predicts that accident charges might be “drastically diminished” as soon as vehicles are put within the fingers of computer systems versus people.
Josep Lago—AFP by way of Getty Photographs
“Most accidents, we discover, are on account of human components,” Han defined, citing the consequences of consuming, drowsiness, and distractions on human drivers. “Machines gained’t be drunk, gained’t overdose. Machines are very dependable. Deadly accident charges for robotaxis are a lot decrease than human drivers.”
Much less congestion may very well be one other advantage of automated autos. “Robotaxis won’t ever velocity, won’t ever simply reduce in line,” he mentioned. “Site visitors will simply move way more easily.”
There’s a broader financial argument for self-driving vehicles in nations whose populations are quickly growing old as beginning charges decline—a very thorny drawback in China and elsewhere in Asia. “With such enormous markets, we are going to want a lot of labor in transport and mobility,” Han mentioned. “If we’re short-handed, then we have now to make use of AI to exchange the scarcity, to fill the hole between demand and necessities.”
That extends to public transport and public providers. WeRide runs robobuses, robosweepers, and different automated types of public transit and metropolis autos. “The price of bus drivers in a developed economic system is sort of excessive,” Han defined. If these prices may be diminished by means of automation, he argued, then cities can broaden their transit techniques and “assist construct extra eco-friendly transportation for the entire planet.”
The robotaxi enterprise
WeRide reported $27.9 million in income for the primary six months of 2025, a 32% leap from the identical interval a 12 months earlier. Nonetheless, the corporate reported a $110 million internet loss for that very same interval, due largely to spending of $90 million on analysis and improvement, 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 loads of hidden prices, together with distant supervisors, charging and parking infrastructure, and tech help. The financial institution prompt that robotaxis won’t break even till about eight years after launch.
But HSBC additionally predicted that robotaxis will probably attain their business potential in China first, on account of higher 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 by means of its Apollo Go autos.
China additionally manufactures most of the elements that go into self-driving vehicles. One key part producer is Hesai Know-how, the world’s main producer of automotive lidar sensors, that are utilized by robotaxis and different autonomous autos to acknowledge their atmosphere and keep away from obstacles.
International ride-share corporations are taking discover. WeRide is providing its Center Jap robotaxis by means of 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 12 months.
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 loads slower in international growth. Waymo at present operates in Tokyo and London.
Han isn’t shocked that international companies at the moment are embracing Chinese language robotaxis. In spite of everything, if China gives one of the best product, why wouldn’t international companies need to cooperate with it?
“After I was an adolescent, we purchased electronics from Japan, instruments from Germany and computer systems from the U.S. It’s very regular. It’s very regular,” Han mentioned.
“If WeRide can provide good robotaxi know-how and providers to Uber, and in flip, Uber and WeRide collectively deliver a really environment friendly and comfy taxi service to strange individuals; why shouldn’t we do this?”
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