Qiming Star | WeRide's Tony Han: Autonomous Driving Will 'Light Up' the World Like the Light Bulb | Bilingual

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Recently, Tony Han, Founder and CEO of Qiming Venture Partners' portfolio company WeRide (NASDAQ:WRD), sat down for an exclusive interview with CNBC, the world's leading financial news network. During the "Street Signs Asia" segment, he shared insights on the company's global commercialization strategy and the societal impact of autonomous driving technology.

The following is an edited transcript of the interview.

CNBC: Today we are very pleased to have Tony Han, Founder and CEO of WeRide, joining us for a CNBC exclusive interview. First, please tell us about WeRide's international expansion strategy — WeRide announced on February 28 the deployment of Europe's first fully driverless minibus commercial operation — and what you hope to achieve through this project.

Tony Han: This collaboration with beti, Macif, and the Renault Group is an unprecedented partnership. To my knowledge, this is the first autonomous shuttle service to enter formal commercial daily operations in Europe. For us, this is an important step into the European market. I believe this represents significant progress, because the original purpose of developing autonomous driving technology was to make transportation safer, more efficient, and more comfortable. If you've ever ridden in our autonomous minibus, you'll find it's like a private cabin — extremely comfortable. We want to transform public transportation so that it is both economically efficient and comfortable and safe.

We know that Europe is an aging society facing a shortage of drivers. We hope to provide better public transportation services to society through advanced autonomous driving technology. Therefore, this commercial collaboration on autonomous driving with beti, Macif, and the Renault Group is an important first step.

CNBC: You chose to partner with European companies to enter the European market. Some observers believe that more and more European and Chinese companies are working together to address the very issues you just mentioned. How are you navigating the challenges of the European market and the pressure from the European Union?

Tony Han: I'd like to share an example: Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, but the light bulb illuminated not just the United States — it illuminated the entire world.

Human society has experienced world wars. I am personally a pacifist, and I believe that seeking breakthroughs amid today's geopolitical landscape is something we all face together. Whether doing business in European countries, MENA countries, or Southeast Asian countries, you must comply with local laws and regulations and genuinely contribute value to local society. This is our philosophy. We are developing our business globally, we respect local markets, and we support local economic development. Most importantly, we want to make this incredibly useful autonomous driving technology accessible to the entire world.

CNBC: I'd like to talk about NVIDIA's interest in your company. They didn't start paying attention to you just a few weeks ago — they've supported your business from the very beginning. What have your discussions with Jensen Huang (Editor's note: Founder and CEO of NVIDIA) been like regarding autonomous driving technology? What was your pitch to him, and what are his expectations for your company's future development?

Tony Han: I first met Jensen Huang back in 2017, when the company was just founded. At that time, I was still in Silicon Valley. I consider Jensen Huang a great entrepreneur who consistently pursues great technological advances.

At that time, WeRide was one of the best autonomous driving technology companies in the world, but we had no actual business operations — only technology. I believe it was the advanced nature of our technology that led Jensen Huang to decide to support us. Our vision is to build WeRide into a great company that transforms transportation through autonomous driving technology. In my view, driving is a tedious task. It can be a hobby, but it shouldn't be a job. Researchers and entrepreneurs are working to replace such tedious tasks with machines. Therefore, we will continue pursuing technological excellence and gradually apply it to transportation services.

CNBC: Driving can be enjoyable, but in many emerging markets, it's an important source of employment. If more and more vehicles become autonomous, a large number of jobs will be displaced. What's your view on this?

Tony Han: This is an excellent question, and I'm glad to have the opportunity to answer it. One of the key questions 21st-century philosophers are grappling with is the relationship between humans and machines — more specifically, between humans and AI. Many jobs once performed by humans are gradually being taken over by machines. Looking back at history, this is not the first time. Programmable switches replaced human operators, washing machines replaced laundry workers, and the mining industry has extensively adopted automation technology. This represents a migration or transformation of human jobs.

I believe we should invest more resources and effort in creating friendlier, more enjoyable jobs for people. In fact, such new jobs already exist — data labeling, elderly care, and so on. At the same time, this job migration happens gradually.

In many aging societies, the key issue isn't employment — it's the shortage of bus drivers and taxi drivers. Therefore, we hope to use autonomous driving technology to address this problem.

CNBC: I fully understand your point. In my view, the sequence of AI application is to first find alternatives, then retrain workers. If you solve this problem, displacement won't be destructive. But the current situation seems to be that displacement is happening faster than the implementation of alternatives.

Tony Han: That's why we must control the pace of technology application. We wouldn't want to see autonomous taxis replacing all traditional taxis overnight. We don't want to do that. I believe a gradual strategy is the right choice. What we're doing is gradually filling the gap between supply and demand. We all face the reality of population aging. We've all observed this phenomenon. There is already a gap between the supply and demand for taxi drivers and bus drivers. In some societies, this has already become a serious problem. Look at some European countries and Japan — they don't have enough bus drivers or taxi drivers, and the average age of those in the profession is quite high. We must use technology to solve this societal problem.

CNBC: Understood. Your main markets are China, the United States, the UAE, and Singapore — these are where you hold driverless permits. How do you plan the growth of your business? In which key markets do you expect to see linear growth?

Tony Han: All markets with severe aging populations and high labor costs are our target markets. We must ensure the safety of our technology and make the autonomous driving experience very comfortable. This is the direction we're working toward.

CNBC: This has been a wonderful conversation. Thank you very much for answering these questions for us.

Source | CNBC

CNBC Exclusive Interview with Tony Han, Founder and CEO of WeRide: Autonomous Driving Will "Illuminate" the World Like the Invention of the Light Bulb

On February 28, Tony Han, Founder and CEO of Qiming Venture Partners' portfolio company WeRide (NASDAQ:WRD), participated in an exclusive interview with CNBC, a leading global financial news network. During the "Street Signs Asia" segment, he shared insights on WeRide's global commercialization strategy and the societal impact of autonomous driving technology.

The following is the edited transcript of the interview.

CNBC: Tony Han, Founder and CEO of WeRide, joins us now for CNBC exclusive interview and we are very glad that he could make the time to be with us this morning. Tony, thank you very much. Please explain the expansion strategy and what you hope to achieve from it.

Tony Han: The collaboration with beti, Macif and Renault Group is a kind of unprecedented collaboration. And this is to my best knowledge, the first fully operational high-level autonomous driving shuttle deployed in a daily base. And to us, this is our first step to the European region. And also, I do believe this is a great movement because, think about the main purpose of developing autonomous driving technology, (it) is trying to make transportation safer, more efficient and more comfortable. if you have ever taken a ride in our autonomous driving bus, it's like a private cabinet and it's very comfortable. We want to really revolutionize the public transportation. It not only stands for economically efficient but should also stand for very comfortable and much safer.

And we know Europe is currently an aging society and we are facing a bus driver shortage problem together. So, we want to use cutting-edge autonomous driving technology to make public transportation upgrade services for all human societies. Therefore, doing some business with autonomous driving technology and collaborating with beti, Macif and Renault Group becomes a great first step.

CNBC: Tony, you have partnered up with European companies in order to make these inroads into Europe. Some of the views out there that this is exactly how it's going to be is that we're going to see more companies across Europe and China partnering up and teaming up in order to address exactly what you're talking about. But I'm just wondering how you are navigating some of those challenges with regards to Europe and the pressure from the EU.

**Tony Han：**There're some stories I want to share with you. Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, but the light bulb is not only lighting (up) America but also lighting (up) the rest of the world. And you know, human society has experienced the World War. And I'm personally a pacifist and I think to navigate this kind of geopolitical issue in the current era, it's like we are facing together. To do business in any region like in European countries, in MENA countries, in southeast Asian countries, you have to comply with all addressable regulations and laws and also really contribute to the local society. That's our philosophy. We are doing business all over the world, but we do respect the local society, and want to help the economic development of the local society. The most important thing is that we want to make this very, very helpful autonomous driving technology available to the rest of the world.

**CNBC: **Tony, I just want to talk a little bit about NVIDIA's interest in your company. It's not like they just came in a few weeks ago, but they have backed your business from the start. What have your discussions with Jensen Huang (Founder and CEO of NVIDIA) been in terms of this autonomous driving technology? And what's your pitch been to him and what's his expectation from your company in terms of where you want to take it?

**Tony Han: **I have been known Jensen since the beginning of this company in the year of 2017. At that time, I was at Silicon Valley. I think Jensen is a great entrepreneur, always pushing for the great technology.

At that time, WeRide is one of the best autonomous driving technology companies and we didn't have any actual real business. What we only had is our great technology. I think because of the advancement of our technology and our demonstration, and Jensen made his mind to support us. To us, we have a big dream to make this company a great company and we really want to revolutionize the transportation with autonomous driving technology. To my mind, I think driving is a tedious job. And it can be a hobby, but it shouldn't be a task. And replacing the tedious job with machine is what our researchers or entrepreneurs are trying to do. Therefore, I think we will continue pursuing excellence in technology and gradually make this technology available to the transportation business.

**CNBC: **So, driving may be a hobby, but for many emerging markets, it's a major source of employment. And so how do you think about that, the displacement of jobs that can lead to if more and more transportation vehicles become autonomous.

**Tony Han: **It's a great question. I'm so excited to answer this question. I think in the 21st century, one of the key questions to the philosophers is the relationship between Mankind and the machines, more specifically AI. And there are lots of jobs used to be taken by human being and solve the employment problem, and that will gradually be taken by AI or machines. But think about in history that's not the first time, like the programmable switch machine replaced the human operators and washing machines replaced laundry workers. Now I think for the mining business, they adopt technology a lot. I'll say it's called a migration or shift of human jobs.

To me, I don't want to be a taxi driver, if I have other choices. There are always other jobs available. And I think we should put resource, inject resource, put lots of efforts to find really more amicable and more enjoyable jobs for the working class. I think they are there, for example labelling business, elder care. Also, we want to do this gradually. The key problem for our society, in many aging societies, it's not because of jobs, but about the shortage of bus drivers or taxi drivers. So, we want to use technology, more specifically, autonomous driving technology to solve this problem.

**CNBC: **OK. Your big markets are China, the US, UAE and Singapore. That's where you hold driverless permits. How do we see growth playing out for your business and which are the key growth markets where you see linearity in growth?

**Tony Han: **So, basically all the aging societies, with a relatively high salary, I mean taxi driver salary. So basically these are our (targeting) markets. To do so, you have to really make your technology safer and make autonomous driving experience very comfortable. So that's what we're working hard on.

**CNBC: **Good stuff, Tony! Absolute pleasure speaking with you today. Thank you so much for your time and breaking that all down for us.

Source: CNBC

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The World Is Embracing Chinese Technology

Founded in 2006, Qiming Venture Partners currently manages 11 USD funds and 7 RMB funds, with total assets under management reaching $9.5 billion. Since its inception, the firm has focused on investing in outstanding early- and growth-stage companies in the Technology and Consumer (T&C) and Healthcare sectors.

To date, Qiming Venture Partners has invested in over 580 high-growth innovative enterprises, of which more than 210 have gone public on the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, Shanghai Stock Exchange, and Shenzhen Stock Exchange, or exited through M&A and other means. Over 80 portfolio companies have become recognized unicorns or super-unicorns in their respective industries.

Many companies in Qiming Venture Partners' portfolio have grown into the most influential players in their fields, including Xiaomi (01810.HK), Meituan (03690.HK), Bilibili (NASDAQ:BILI, 09626.HK), Zhihu (NYSE:ZH, 02390.HK), Roborock (688169.SH), UBTECH (09880.HK), WeRide (NASDAQ:WRD), Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals (603087.SH), Tigermed (300347.SZ, 03347.HK), Zai Lab (NASDAQ:ZLAB, 09688.HK), CanSino Biologics (688185.SH, 06185.HK), Schrödinger (NASDAQ:SDGR), MicroPort EP MedTech (688617.SH), New Horizon Health (06606.HK), Sanyou Medical (688085.SH), Amoy Diagnostics (300685.SZ), Berry Genomics (000710.SZ), GenScript ProBio (688520.SH), Yuanxin Technology, ClinChoice, Belief BioMed, Biren Technology, and others.