Chinese Autonomous Driving Startup WeRide Gets US Permit for Passenger Tests Amid Proposed Software Ban

TapTechNews August 14th news, according to a report by Reuters this morning, the Chinese autonomous driving startup WeRide has obtained the permission of the California Public Utilities Regulatory Commission in the US, meaning that the company can conduct passenger-carrying tests on driverless cars locally.

Insiders said that this move comes at a time when the company is seeking to obtain a valuation of up to 5 billion US dollars (TapTechNews note: currently about 35.887 billion yuan) in the New York IPO, while the US is preparing to ban vehicles from carrying Chinese-developed software systems.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued a three-year permit earlier this month, allowing WeRide to transport passengers using test vehicles with and without drivers. However, WeRide is currently not allowed to provide ride services to the public and cannot charge any fees.

CPUC said that WeRide has 12 active vehicles in the local area and will operate in San Jose and nearby areas.

The report pointed out that due to regulatory obstacles, opposition from urban institutions, and public anger, developing Robotaxi and commercializing it in the US is much more difficult than imagined.

According to a Reuters report on August 5th, the US government plans to propose a ban on the use of Chinese software in autonomous vehicles in the next few weeks. The report quoted unnamed sources as saying that the Biden administration plans to propose a new regulation prohibiting vehicles with L3 and above autonomous driving systems from using Chinese software, which will effectively also ban Chinese self-owned brand cars from conducting road tests in the US.