WeRide Inc. (NASDAQ:WRD) stock fell Wednesday after the autonomous driving company reported second-quarter results. In U.S. dollar terms, loss per share was flat year over year at 18 cents. Revenue jumped 92% to $34.15 million.
WeRide Revenue Jumps 82%
In local currency, revenue climbed 82% year over year to 232 million Chinese yuan, driven by growth across L4 autonomous driving, L2/L3 advanced driver-assistance systems and international operations.
Overseas revenue surged 164% and accounted for nearly 40% of total revenue. WeRide recorded growth across the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia.
L4 revenue rose 47% to 125 million Chinese yuan, mainly due to higher Robotaxi revenue.
Gross profit jumped 143% to 87 million Chinese yuan. Gross margin hit a record 37.5%, up from 28.1% a year earlier. The improvement reflected growth in higher-margin, asset-light L4 services and a stronger mix of AI services.
WeRide ended June with about 5.4 billion Chinese yuan in cash and other liquid financial resources.
WeRide Expands Across Middle East, Europe
Management estimates that annualized technology-service revenue per Robotaxi could exceed $50,000 at normalized driverless utilization.
WeRide operates fully driverless Robotaxi services in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Its operating zone in Riyadh now covers more than 70% of core urban areas, including airports and central business districts.
In Europe, WeRide announced Robotaxi deployments in Madrid and Zurich. It also plans to launch autonomous shared mobility services in Denmark, expanding its European footprint to six markets.
WeRide’s L4 fleet grew 22% from April to about 3,400 vehicles. Its Robotaxi fleet increased by 500 vehicles, or 40%, to more than 1,800.
Management said its overseas regulatory approvals, supported by technology localization, ecosystem integration and safety validation, could provide a two- to three-year competitive advantage.
Robotaxi Rides Accelerate In China
In China, average daily Robotaxi rides per vehicle rose 24% sequentially to 21, while peak daily rides reached 28.
Registered users in China increased nearly 35% sequentially. Ride-hailing revenue surged 140% from the previous quarter.
WeRide’s L2/L3 business also entered mass production. Revenue from its one-stage end-to-end solution increased nearly 26-fold from a year earlier.
The company delivered about 30,000 L2-equipped vehicles during the second quarter. It expects more than 100,000 vehicles to use its technology by year-end and projects cumulative deliveries to exceed 500,000 next year.
WeRide also launched an L3 autonomous-driving proof of concept with Mercedes-Benz, adding another major automaker validation for its technology.
WeRide CEO Eyes Head-To-Head Test With Tesla FSD
During the earnings call, WeRide CEO Tony Han said the company hopes Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) brings its Full Self-Driving technology to China in the fourth quarter, adding that WeRide wants a direct head-to-head comparison with FSD.
Han, who said he is a heavy FSD user in California, said he has also driven vehicles equipped with WeRide’s WRD 3.0 ADAS system. “I think these two things are comparable,” he said.
WRD Price Action: WeRide shares were down 9.64% at $5.71 at the time of publication on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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