China's WeRide eyes Australia, Southeast Asia among potential new markets after strong Q2

BEIJING, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Chinese autonomous driving firm WeRide is considering Australia, South Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia as potential new markets for expansion, its chief executive said on Thursday.

The expansion push comes as leading Chinese robotaxi firms race to establish overseas footholds, seeking new growth markets and diversified revenue streams as autonomous driving technology moves closer to commercial deployment globally.

"In Australia, we are talking with the regulatory authorities about the possibility," WeRide CEO Tony Han told Reuters.

Other potential markets include Southeast Asia, South Korea and Japan, he said, adding that the company was also in talks with European countries. 

The Guangzhou-based firm entered Denmark earlier in August, extending its European footprint to a sixth country. WeRide's autonomous vehicles now span more than 60 cities across 13 countries.

Commercial deployments of its right-hand-drive robotaxi service are also set to begin in Singapore and Hong Kong.

"We want to hire locally and we want to work closely with the local government officials and the authorities and try to use as many local collaborators as possible," Han said.

Overseas expansion has become an increasingly important growth driver for WeRide. The company's second-quarter overseas revenue grew 164% from a year earlier, outpacing an 82% increase in total quarterly revenue, according to its disclosure on Wednesday.

The company's EBITDA loss narrowed 8.1% year-on-year in the second quarter. It targets achieving positive cash flow in a single quarter by 2028, with a full-year break-even anticipated in 2029.

"Currently we don't have a very immediate need for capital raising," Han said, adding that the company would keep the possibility open if terms were "good."

WeRide's global robotaxi fleet exceeded 1,800 vehicles as of the end of July, part of a level 4 autonomous fleet of about 3,400 vehicles that also includes robobuses and robosweepers.

   Han said the company was confident of reaching its target of deploying 5,000 vehicles of high automation level 4 by the end of this year, including 2,600 robotaxis.

Beyond its jointly developed purpose-built robotaxi with Geely Farizon, WeRide is also co-developing another robotaxi model with GAC that is expected to deliver further hardware cost reductions, he said.

The company's longer-term goal is to deploy robotaxis in the tens of thousands by 2030 before expanding to 1 million vehicles by 2035.

Robotaxis aside, Han said WeRide was seeing strong demand from both Chinese and international automakers for its advanced driver-assistance systems, which he expects to become "a very profitable business" for the company.

(Reporting by Qiaoyi Li and Kevin Krolicki; Editing by Kate Mayberry)