WeRide Robotaxis in Saudi Arabia
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WeRide has received approval to operate robotaxis in Saudi Arabia. It is partnering with Uber and Ai Driver and doing the pilot in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia. By the end of the year, the companies plan to have full-scale commercial operations up and running.
Haven’t heard of robotaxi pilots in Saudi Arabia before? That’s because there haven’t been any. This is the first autonomous driving permit granted in Saudi Arabia.
WeRide also beat competitors in the punch in another way. It’s the first tech company in the world to get autonomous driving permits in six countries, with those countries being China, the UAE, Singapore, France, the US, and now Saudi Arabia.
Of course, people who have been following recent robotaxi announcements will no doubt notice a continuing trend. Uber is again involved in this robotaxi trial and expected commercial launch.
“This permit marks a major step in our global expansion, enabling us to scale robotaxi services and unlock new commercial opportunities in Saudi Arabia,” said Jennifer Li, CFO and Head of International at WeRide.
But that’s not all! The company is also planning to launch a robobus service, not just robotaxis, in the country.
Additionally, it’s already operating robosweeper sanitation vehicles. That’s the Robosweeper S1 and it’s doing its business at King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh Second Health Cluster. Eight months ago, I wrote about the Robosweeper S1 and Robosweeper S6 operating in Singapore.
11 months ago, WeRide got permission to test robotaxis in California, and 8 months ago it launched robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi with WeRide. Last month, we reported on WeRide launching its robotaxi service in Dubai with Uber. In May, we covered the company’s plans to launch its robotaxi service in 15 more cities within 5 years. I guess Riyadh is one of those cities. I presume we’ll be hearing about more soon.
Does all of this mean that Waymo and Tesla are far behind in robotaxi deployment? Well, if we’re being objective about it, that seems to be the case.
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