Qiming Star | WeRide's Han Xu: The Ultimate Winner Will Prevail on Service Quality | Bilingual
WeRide is an international company dedicated to bringing autonomous driving services to the global market. The company is building a robust business development team and sales network, while developing a universal autonomous driving technology platform to support operations and services worldwide.
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Recently, Tony Han, founder and CEO of WeRide (NASDAQ:WRD), a portfolio company of Qiming Venture Partners, sat down with Bloomberg, a premier global financial media outlet, for an exclusive interview on The China Show. He shared and discussed the company's global commercialization strategy, competitive approach, and future development plans.
Below is an edited transcript of the interview.
Bloomberg: On March 14, WeRide's stock price drew significant attention, as the company had just released its earnings report — its first annual report since listing on Nasdaq. We saw the stock close up 13%. It was an interesting earnings release: while somewhat mixed in certain respects, analysts and trading firms still gave it a positive read.
Now, let's dig deeper. Welcome Tony Han, founder and CEO of WeRide, to our exclusive interview.
Tony Han: Over the past year and in Q1 this year, our expenses did increase. But overall, our technology development has gone very smoothly. We've now expanded to 30 cities across 10 countries. Additionally, we announced that 50 Robotaxis will be available on Uber's platform in Abu Dhabi by mid-2025. So there has been a lot of positive progress. I think these are all exciting developments — whether in R&D, operations, or sales performance, especially with Robotaxi and other new products. All these factors combined have given the company a strong showing in the stock market.
Bloomberg: Can you share more details about your expansion plans? Let me first give our audience some background. Regarding your Robotaxi fleet, you currently have roughly 400 vehicles, with about 300 in mainland China and the rest overseas. Most of those are in the UAE. Where are you headed next? Will you continue in the UAE or expand more broadly across the Middle East, or will you also enter other international markets?
Tony Han: In the UAE, we're already operating in key areas of Abu Dhabi, including Yas Island, Saadiyat Island, and routes to and from Zayed International Airport, among other core Abu Dhabi districts. Additionally, our autonomous minibuses have begun trial operations in Barcelona. Meanwhile, we have autonomous minibus operations at Zurich Airport, and we've also launched Robotaxi in Zurich. Going forward, we'll have more developments in Japan and France. We're actively expanding into more new cities.
I think what makes WeRide unique is that we are an international company committed to bringing autonomous driving services to the global market. We're building a very strong business development team and sales network, while developing a universal autonomous driving technology to support operations and services worldwide. That's our broad plan for global market expansion.
Bloomberg: I'd like to understand more about your global expansion. Last week, I noticed that citizens and tourists in Barcelona could experience your autonomous minibus service for free — that's the trial operation you just mentioned. So beyond Robotaxi, what are your expansion strategies and goals for other vehicle types like autonomous minibuses and autonomous freight vehicles? For these vehicle types, which markets are you primarily targeting?
Tony Han: I think we're mainly focused on markets with labor shortages. We're working to address societal problems. In markets with severe population aging and labor shortages, using machines to bridge the gap between actual demand and insufficient labor supply — that's what we're working to do.
So beyond Robotaxi, our autonomous sanitation vehicles are filling the gap between staffing shortages and high demand in the sanitation industry. Autonomous freight vehicles address similar problems in the logistics and delivery sector. And on the public transit side, in some European countries, there's a shortage of bus drivers. So we'll focus on these markets with driver shortages — we want to solve this problem. We want to provide more cost-effective, efficient, and safer solutions.
If you sit in our autonomous minibus, you'll feel that its smoothness even surpasses that of a human-driven bus. You won't experience the motion sickness or jolting you get on a traditional bus. Riding in our autonomous minibus is like sitting in a private cabin with a dedicated chauffeur — the ride is remarkably smooth, and the view is excellent. I believe that with these advantages, we can deliver an outstanding travel experience for users.
Bloomberg: You mentioned some markets with population aging or labor shortages, including Japan. Obviously, this will be an important market. I'd like to talk about your business model, because WeRide enters each market by finding local partners, selling vehicles, charging fixed service fees, and having a revenue-sharing model. You already have this kind of partnership with Uber in the Middle East. Will you pursue a similar collaboration with Uber in Japan?
Tony Han: That's a great question. Our partnership philosophy or methodology is to maintain close collaboration with partners. But in expansion, we don't want to be dominant. We want to be a supplier providing autonomous driving technology and transportation empowerment. So we want to align with Uber's expansion plans in Japan. But that doesn't mean we're not doing Japan ourselves. If Uber doesn't have a clear expansion plan for Japan, we can also find local partners. In fact, our autonomous minibuses are already deployed in Japan.
Expansion involves several dimensions. One is geographic — continuously broadening our reach. Another is product dimension. For example, in Europe, minibuses are a very popular product because Europeans like to use public transportation. So we've made minibuses a priority product for the European market. In Japan, we've also launched minibus operations. That's our expansion strategy.
Bloomberg: I'm very interested in your Japan expansion because Uber is already there. So it would be a natural partner for you. But how do you deal with competitors in this market? For instance, Alphabet's subsidiary Waymo also has its own autonomous fleet, and they're expanding into Japan as well. So how does your business model compete with a company like Waymo to become the preferred choice for Uber or other partners?
Tony Han: Our main strategy is to scale Robotaxi services in an efficient and stable manner. The benefit of partnering with Uber is that Uber has already built out a comprehensive network of human-driven taxis. The key to introducing autonomous taxis is this: if we want to cover a city and achieve good estimated arrival times, we need to deploy at least 1,000 to 5,000 vehicles in that city. (For a company like ours) that would be an enormous capital burden.
Our partnership with Uber is a "hybrid model," where some orders are fulfilled by Robotaxi and some by human-driven vehicles. But for users, the experience is seamless and transparent. I believe this model gives us a powerful competitive advantage. To my knowledge, globally, the partnership between WeRide and Uber is unique. No competitor has had this kind of collaboration. So we'll continue to maintain this competitive advantage.
Bloomberg: Of course, one way you can compete is on price. Regarding price competition, I understand that in the China market, you're considering dynamic pricing strategies. I understand this to mean you may offer discounts. How low can you go on price? This isn't just compared to companies like Waymo, but also competitors in the China market, where competition is already quite intense.
Tony Han: One of WeRide's strategies is that we don't want to engage in price competition. Frankly, I don't think there are many competitors in the China market that can truly provide reliable and efficient Robotaxi services. Although many companies claim to have Robotaxi fleets, if you look closely, there are at most three companies actually conducting commercial Robotaxi operations in China.
Among these companies, WeRide, with its strong technical capabilities and solid operational track record, has achieved a record of zero regulatory penalties due to system failures across its fleet of over 400 Robotaxis to date. That's an extraordinary figure, and we're very proud of our safety record.
WeRide has obtained autonomous driving operating licenses in five countries. Globally, only one company has received licenses in five countries, and that company is WeRide. So in the face of competition, we'll focus more on product reliability and user experience.
Personally, I believe autonomous driving, Robotaxi, and related products have not yet reached the stage of price competition. I believe the ultimate winner will be the company that can provide the best service quality, not simply the one that offers the lowest price.
Source | Bloomberg
Bloomberg Exclusive Interview with Tony Han, Founder and CEO of WeRide: The Final Winner Will Prevail Through Service Quality
Tony Han, Founder and CEO of WeRide (NASDAQ:WRD), a portfolio company of Qiming Venture Partners, was interviewed by Bloomberg, a premier global financial media outlet, on The China Show. During the interview, he shared insights into the company's global commercialization strategy, competitive approach, and future development plans.
The following is the edited transcript of the interview.
Bloomberg: Chinese self-driving company WeRide reported earnings recently. It was actually their first earnings release as a listed company on the NASDAQ. We saw the share price really rising intraday closing up 13% on March 14th. So, an interesting earnings release and certainly one, even with those sorts of softer or weaker spots, still was interpreted very positively by a lot of analysts and traders. Let's get more now with the WeRide Founder and CEO. This is Tony Han joining us this morning for an exclusive interview.
Tony, I want to get your reaction to those numbers because as it said, there were some softer spots. But still we saw a positive market reaction. So, what's your reaction in particular?
Tony Han: Over the past year and the first quarter, we do have some kind of increasing expenses. But overall, the technology has progressed very well and we are expanding to 30 cities in 10 countries and our Robotaxi has been announced (that) by the mid of 2025 we will have 50 Robotaxis running on the Uber platform in Abu Dhabi. And so there is lots of progress. I think that's the exciting progress in both R&D and the operation, and in the sales numbers, especially for robotaxi and new products. All of these factors combining together give us a very good performance in the stock market.
Bloomberg: Can you share some more details on the expansion? Because just to give people some context here, speaking about the Robotaxi fleet specifically, you've got around 400 vehicles in that, 300 roughly are in mainland of China. The rest are abroad. Lots of those are expected to be, at least in the UAE. But where would you go, in the UAE or in the Middle East more broadly? And where would you also go next in other international markets?
Tony Han: So, in UAE, we actually have already started to operate in the major area in Abu Dhabi like the Yas Island, Saadiyat Island and the route through Zayed International Airport, and many key areas in Abu Dhabi. We also started our Robobus in trial operation in Barcelona. And also, we have our Robotaxi and Robobus operation in Zurich Airport and also Robotaxi operation in Zurich. And we will have more to come maybe in Japan, and also in France. So, there are lots of cities we are trying to explore right now.
We believe one unique thing of WeRide is (that) WeRide is a global company, and we try to expand our autonomous driving service to the global market. And we are building a very strong business development team, very strong sales network, and we are trying to build very general autonomous driving technology to support the operation and service globally. So, that's roughly our rough plan about expansion in the global market.
Bloomberg: Tony, I want to pick up on that point about your expansion in the global market. I did see that pedestrians and riders were able to ride one of your minibuses for free in Barcelona last week. That was a trial of the Robobus that you mentioned just then. So, beyond the Robotaxis, what is the strategy and what are the targets for expanding vehicles in the minibus area, in the van area? And where are the markets that you're focusing for those sorts of vehicles?
Tony Han: I think, for the market that we try to focus, that is mainly for some markets that are short of labors. We are trying to solve some society issues. For some markets that there is an aging society and short of labors, and you want to try to use the machine to fill the gap between the actual demand and the shortage of labor. So that's what we are trying to do.
So, besides Robotaxi, our Robosweeper is trying to fill the gap between labor shortages and high demand in the sanitation industry. For Robovan, it's the same thing with logistics and delivery. And for the minibus in public transportation — in some European countries, they're short of bus drivers. So we'll focus on these markets that have shortages, especially driver shortages, and try to solve them. We want to provide a solution with much greater economic efficiency. And a much safer solution.
If you ride in our robo-minibus, you can feel that the smoothness is actually even better than a human bus driver. It feels like a human bus driver — you never get that motion sickness or jerkiness you usually experience on a bus. In the minibus, it's like you're sitting in a private cabin driven by your personal chauffeur. Very smooth, and the view is fantastic. You're just sitting there. So I believe, with all of this, we can deliver a very good user experience to our users.
Bloomberg: You mentioned places with aging populations or labor supply shortages — and of course you mentioned Japan as well. So this is clearly going to be a key market. But I want to talk about your business model too. Because WeRide's approach is to find local partners in each market, sell the vehicles, charge a fixed service fee, and have a revenue-sharing agreement in place. You already have this partnership with Uber in the Middle East. Would you look to partner with Uber in Japan as well?
Tony Han: Oh, that's a very good question. So basically, our philosophy or methodology is that we want to work closely with our partners. But for expansion, we don't want to become dominant. We just want to be a kind of autonomous driving technology and transportation capability supplier. So we want to align very well with Uber's expansion in Japan. But that's not to say we're not doing the Japan market ourselves. If Uber doesn't have a very concrete plan to expand in Japan, we can also find local partners. Actually, for minibus, we've already started.
And there are several dimensions to expansion. One is geographic — how to expand geographically. Another is product. For example, in Europe, the minibus is people's favorite product, because people like to take public transportation there. So we focus our minibus on the European market. In Japan, we're also starting the market. That's how we expand.
Bloomberg: But going to Japan in particular, I'm interested because Uber is in Japan. So that would be a natural partner for you. How though are you also going to be going up against competitors in this space? Because Waymo, for instance — that's the Alphabet subsidiary — also has its own autonomous driving fleet. They're also looking at expanding into Japan. So with your business model, how do you compete with names like Waymo to be the partner for companies like Uber?
Tony Han: Okay. I think our main strategy is to expand our robotaxi service in a very efficient and very stable way. And the good thing about teaming up with Uber is that Uber already has a very strong network of human-driven taxis. The thing is, when you adopt autonomous driving technology — if you want to take over one city and have a good estimated time of arrival — you have to deploy at least 1,000 or sometimes 5,000 cars in that single city. That creates a huge burden.
On the other hand, the collaboration pattern between Uber and WeRide is that we roll out robotaxi in a hybrid mode. That means some orders will be fulfilled by robotaxi, and some orders will be fulfilled by human drivers. But to users, it's a very smooth and transparent experience. I think this kind of combination gives us a very strong advantage over our competitors. To my best knowledge, in the global market, the WeRide-Uber combination is the first of its kind. No other competitor has ever done this. So we look forward to maintaining this competitive advantage.
Bloomberg: One of the ways you can compete, of course, is on price. On competition around price — I know that in the domestic market as well, you're looking at having dynamic pricing, which I understood as offering discounts. How much cheaper can you go? Not just against names like Waymo, but also competitors within China. It's already quite a competitive landscape.
Tony Han: One strategy of WeRide is that we don't want to compete on price. Frankly speaking, there may be several competitors. Actually, there aren't many — only very, very few competitors in China can supply reliable and efficient robotaxi. Not that many, although many competitors claim that they have robotaxi fleets. But if you look at it, there are at most three competitors that can actually do robotaxi operations in China.
Among all of these, I think WeRide, with its strong technology and strong track record — so far, for these 400 robo-vehicles, we have zero regulatory discipline due to system failure. That's an extraordinary number. We're so proud of our safety record.
WeRide has five autonomous driving permits, driverless autonomous driving operation permits in five countries. There's only one company that has gotten permits from five countries. So for that kind of competition, we will focus on reliability and experience.
And I personally don't think autonomous driving, or robotaxi, or relevant products have reached a stage where we need to compete on price. It hasn't arrived at that stage yet. I believe the final winner will be the one who can supply the best quality of service, not simply the lowest price.
Source: Bloomberg
Qiming Weekly | Qiming Venture Partners Portfolio Updates Vol. 10, 2025
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 companies. More than 210 of these have listed 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. Over 80 companies have become recognized unicorns or super-unicorns.
Many of Qiming Venture Partners' portfolio companies have grown into the most influential companies in their respective 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), Sanyou Medical (688085.SH), Amoy Diagnostics (300685.SZ), Berry Genomics (000710.SZ), Sinocelltech (688520.SH), Yuanxin Technology, ClinChoice, Belief BioMed, Biren Technology, and others.