Major companies crackdown on Robotaxi, can WeRide maintain its "first-mover advantage"?

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（Source: NetEase Technology）

After 2025 marked the first year of large-scale, full-fledged operations for Robotaxi, the standards applied by capital markets to autonomous driving companies have shifted from simply “fighting on the technical front” to the tangible results of “commercial monetization.”

As one of the leading players in China’s Robotaxi sector, WeRide was the first to present its performance results.

In 2025, WeRide’s revenue was 690 million yuan, a substantial year-over-year increase of 90%. Of that, fourth-quarter revenue was 314 million yuan, up 123% year over year; in the same period, net losses were 1.66 billion yuan, narrowing by more than 30% year over year.

This strong growth in performance is primarily driven by the rapid ramp-up in its Robotaxi business volume.

In 2025, WeRide’s Robotaxi-related products and services revenue reached 148 million yuan, a substantial year-over-year increase of 209.6%.

By the end of 2025, the number of WeRide’s global Robotaxis reached 1,125 vehicles, setting a new historical high.

But as the Robotaxi business model is gradually proven to work, the race is becoming increasingly crowded.

Previously, domestic Robotaxi players were mainly concentrated among three autonomous driving technology companies: RoboKuaipao, Pony.ai, and WeRide. Since 2025, however, ride-hailing platforms represented by Didi, CaoCao Chuxing, HelloBike, and Gaode, as well as automakers represented by XPeng, have all joined the fray—raising market concerns about future competitive pressure facing WeRide.

In response, management of WeRide addressed the issue during a phone conference late on March 23, saying: “For an autonomous driving taxi business from the L2 to L4 level, it needs to obtain safety operation qualifications and pass continuous capability verifications. This includes hardware maturity, system architecture, and approvals from regulatory authorities. These are all checkpoints that competitors must overcome one by one. In this regard, we have accumulated extensive experience and have a clear advantage in the L4-level autonomous driving taxi business. We welcome our competitors to join this highly competitive market.”

According to its plans, WeRide expects that by the end of 2026, its global Robotaxi fleet will expand to 2,600 vehicles, with a long-term ambition to achieve tens of thousands of global deployments before 2030.

In this process, overseas markets have become the key engine supporting WeRide’s plans.

Currently, WeRide is accelerating global penetration through deep cooperation with Uber. As management revealed during the call, it is expected that by 2027, the size of the cooperative fleet on the platforms between the two sides could reach over 1,000 vehicles.

At present, WeRide’s overseas market operations are mainly carried out through its cooperation with Uber to advance Robotaxi operations.

As management of WeRide revealed during the phone call, regarding cooperation with Uber, it is expected that by 2027 a cooperative scale of over 1,000 vehicles could be achieved.

In addition, regarding the highly watched Middle East market, management said that all lines of business are being advanced steadily,

“ We have already obtained Abu Dhabi city-level licenses, and this year we will launch operations in Dubai. In these two important cities in the Middle East, we have secured the necessary permits, which is a good starting point.” WeRide noted, “From the perspective of regulation, a strong safety record and a good relationship with partners will also help us expand faster. Currently, we are closely monitoring business development and expansion, working closely with local and overseas teams to continue expanding our fleet size. As of now, there is no lack of any materials that affects the progress of our business. Everything remains under our control.”

The rapid growth in revenue and the substantial narrowing of losses have given WeRide more “supplies” for the heavy-asset, long-cycle autonomous driving sector.

But it is undeniable that as mobility giants and new automakers have entered the arena one after another, competition in the domestic market is intensifying further.

In the second half of autonomous driving, the real commercial ranking race has only just begun.

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