Yutong Group, the parent company of bus manufacturer Zhengzhou Yutong Bus, has invested $200m in China-based driverless vehicle software developer WeRide, Reuters reported today.
Founded in 2017, WeRide is developing level 4 autonomous driving software, which would enable drivers to let the vehicle drive itself while still being able to take control themselves. It is currently trialling a driverless taxi service in the city of Guangzhou.
The Yutong investment was made in conjunction with a strategic partnership agreement that will lay the groundwork for the companies to jointly develop autonomous buses for urban use.
WeRide had closed a series A round of undisclosed size in January 2019 having raised an eight-digit amount from artificial intelligence software provider SenseTime and financial services firm Agricultural Bank of China’s ABC International subsidiary.
Alliance Ventures, the partnership between carmakers Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi, led the round’s late 2018 first tranche, investing with motor technology provider Johnson Electric, Atop Capital, Idinvest Partners, Qiming Venture Capital, Hanfor Capital, OceanIQ Capital and Xiaopeng He.
The company, then known as Jingchi, had received $52m in pre-series A funding from Nvidia GPU Ventures, the investment arm of graphics chipmaker Nvidia, as well as Qiming Venture Partners and undisclosed others, the previous year.
Photo courtesy of WeRide.
