WeRide is the first publicly listed universal autonomous driving and robotaxi company. WeRide, a global leader in autonomous driving technology, continues to push the boundaries of what's possible with its latest innovation, the Robovan W5. WeRide is the first publicly listed universal autonomous driving and robotaxi company. GET SECURITY ALERTS & EXPERT TECH TIPS -- SIGN UP FOR KURT'S THE CYBERGUY REPORT NOW Imagine a delivery van that doesn't need a driver. Developed by WeRide, this unmanned delivery solution features Level 4 autonomy and a substantial cargo capacity.

Autonomous driving startups in China are in an arms race to put passengers in their machine-driven vehicles. Every few weeks, news arrives that another major player has got the greenlight to launch a new pilot program or a small-scale service. These press releases, often dotted with regulatory jargon and flowery language to aggrandize the companies' progress, can be confusing. That's why we put together this post summarizing the progress of China's major robotaxi operators -- AutoX, Baidu, Deeproute.ai, Didi, Momenta, Pony.ai and WeRide -- in 2021 while trying to parse what their announcements actually mean.

WeRide, the global leading Level 4 autonomous driving technology company, launched its fully driverless Robobus service to the public on the Guangzhou International Bio Island in China's Guangzhou. This move comes after WeRide has been operating China's first Robotaxi commercial service for over two years. The company will continue to take the lead in smart mobility service with its Robotaxi and Robobus operation. WeRide Robobus is based on automaker Yutong Group's purpose-built electric vehicle for autonomous driving. It has no steering wheel, accelerator, or brake.

WeRide, a China-based autonomous driving startup, said on Thursday it plans to make its robotaxis available for booking by the public on Guangzhou Automobile Group's (601238.SS) Ontime ride-hailing app by next year. Backed by Nissan Motor (7201.T), WeRide said in a statement it plans to offer test rides for the public at the Guangzhou Auto Show, which begins in the southern Chinese city on Friday. It added that its robotaxi has been integrated into the ontime platform and they were conducting testing. Automakers and technology firms are investing billions of dollars in autonomous driving, aiming to take an early lead in what many consider the future of mobility. On Tuesday, Chinese autonomous vehicle start-up AutoX, which is backed by Alibaba Group (9988.HK) said it had expanded its robotaxi zone in China's southern city of Shenzhen to become the country's largest fully driverless robotaxi zone, at 65 square miles (168 square km).

Artificial Intelligence funding has been the talk of the town off late. With the rising demand for the advanced technological requirements in possibly everything that one can think of, higher is the number of AI companies flourishing in the market. Considering how crucial AI as a technology is, AI firms receive huge financial support. That being said, here are some of the top AI funding in the last three months. Relativity Space, an aerospace company that designs, develops, and builds 3D printed rockets, has raised a whopping total of $1.3B in funding over 6 rounds. Their recent funding was the one with $650 million that was raised on 8 June 2021.

It's hard to keep up with the fundraising spree in China's autonomous driving industry these days. Guangzhou- and California-based robotaxi company WeRide, which counts Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance as one of its strategic investors, has raised over $600 million in just under five months from its Series B and C financing rounds. The four-year-old upstart said in May that its valuation leaped to $3.3 billion in its Series C fundraising. WeRide has kept details of the backing to itself until today when it disclosed the investment was a lofty sum of $310 million from Alliance Ventures, a strategic venture capital fund operated by Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, China Structural Reform Fund, a Chinese state-owned private equity fund, and Pro Capital, which manages China's CDB Equipment Manufacturing Funds. It's unclear how much WeRide has raised since its inception as some of its investments were undisclosed.

With everyone encouraged to practice social distancing during the pandemic, companies are looking at new ways to keep business going without human contact. Contactless payment and food delivery have boomed in recent months, but the fried chicken expert KFC decided to take it a step further. Its franchises in China are now offering all its products on the streets of Shanghai in self-driving trucks. The chicken trucks, serving socially-distanced food, were first spotted in front of a metro station by users on Twitter, and they caused quite a stir. They are part of a partnership between Chinese tech startup Neolix and Yum Brands, which owns KFC.

Following up on EV battery and EV charging #NewsBonanza posts, here's one on 11 autonomous vehicle & AI stories from the past couple of months that we thought should be covered but we never got to for individual stories. "Google is taking both its immense tech capabilities and social responsibility role very seriously. Namely, it has pledged to provide tangible support to organizations wanting to help address societal challenges using artificial intelligence through its just announced'AI Impact Challenge'. Whether an idea needs coaching, grant funding from a pool of $25 million available, or credit and consulting from cloud services, Google will be there to help." "The program aims to enable computers to communicate naturally, behave reasonably in new situations, and learn from new experiences." Smart Circuit, as it's called, uses vehicles from May Mobility and covers a 1.5-mile loop around the Scioto Mile during the hours 6:00–22:00.