Alliance Ventures Leads Strategic Investment in WeRide.ai

PR76043

PARIS, TOKYO and YOKOHAMA, Japan, October 31, 2018 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi and WeRide.ai to increase presence in Chinese

autonomous vehicle services

Alliance Ventures, the strategic venture capital arm of

Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, has become the lead strategic investor of WeRide.ai

(formerly JingChi.ai), China's leading autonomous driving company focused on

Level 4 (L4) self-driving technology, following completion of the company's

Series A funding.

(Logo:

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The investment in WeRide.ai is the first investment in China and part of the

Alliance Ventures strategy to support entrepreneurs and start-ups at the

cutting edge of next-generation automotive technology.

As a result of the Alliance Ventures support, WeRide.ai will become the first

Chinese start-up specializing in L4 autonomous driving to receive investment

from and form strategic partnership with a global automotive group.

François Dossa, Alliance Global Vice President, Ventures and Open innovation,

said: "Autonomous systems are a key priority of the Alliance as we develop new

mobility services. Our member companies are committed to introducing such

technologies in key markets such as China, so we are delighted to be supporting

WeRide.ai as it pioneers such full autonomous systems for the demanding Chinese

market-place."

Tony Han, CEO and co-founder of WeRide.ai said, "In addition to the financial

investment, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi and WeRide.ai will further our

relationship through strategic cooperation in specific areas.  We truly believe

the next stage of autonomous transportation revolution 2.0 has arrived.

WeRide.ai will continue leading the technology revolution and provide relevant

and meaningful benefits to everyone."

WeRide.ai, advised by Morgan Stanley on the latest funding round, is committed

to creating autonomous driving technology for China which will dramatically

change people's views of cars, transportation services and urban construction

design.

Utilizing the latest investment, WeRide.ai plans to deploy a fleet of 500

autonomous vehicles in 2019, to accumulate 5 million kilometers of actual

autonomous driving mileage, and conduct operation and commercialization trials

in Guangzhou and Anqing with key partners. Since launching its autonomous trial

operations in China, WeRide.ai's autonomous vehicles have accumulated a total

mileage of more than 60,000 kilometers, and served more than 3,000 passengers

worldwide.

Pre-A round lead-investor, Qiming Venture Capital participated in the latest

round, which was also supported by Hanfor Capital, Atop Capital, Johnson

Electric, Xiaopeng He, Idinvest Partners, and OceanIQ Capital.

https://www.alliance-2022.com/news/alliance-ventures-leads-strategic-investment-in-weride-ai/

Source: Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi