Guangzhou-based autonomous driving startup WeRide has formed a strategic partnership with Gosuncn Technology Group Co.,Ltd (SZSE: 300098), to provide sensory and safety hardware to WeRide’s autonomous vehicles.
Gosuncn, which is also headquartered in Guangzhou, is a provider of Internet of Vehicles (IoV) products and services, such as 5G communication chip modules and terminals. Under the partnership, WeRide plans to apply to its cars on a trial basis Gosuncn’s hardware, which would connect with the road-side devices and receive the traffic data from them.
“By applying the traffic data communicating in between, WeRide’s L4 autonomous driving vehicles are empowered with much higher safety redundancy”, said a WeRide spokeswoman.
IoV refers to a network that allows vehicles to communicate in real time with drivers, pedestrians, other vehicles, roadside infrastructure, and fleet management systems
WeRide was the first company in China to open a robotaxi service to the general public, putting its fleet of 40 autonomous vehicles to road in late 2019. Residents in a specified area in Guangzhou can hail these cars using the startup’s app, WeRide Go, for free.
This article is part of KrASIA’s “China Brief” section, where KrASIA’s reporters will provide quick daily updates about the tech ecosystem in China.