WeRide Inc. (NASDAQ: WRD) saw its stock surge 10.11% in pre-market trading on Monday following the announcement of its groundbreaking HPC 3.0 high-performance computing platform. The new platform, jointly developed with Lenovo and powered by NVIDIA's latest DRIVE AGX Thor chips, marks a significant leap forward in autonomous driving technology and cost efficiency.
The HPC 3.0 platform, making its debut in WeRide's latest-generation Robotaxi GXR, is the world's first mass-produced Level 4 autonomous vehicle built on NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor. This fully automotive-grade platform boasts impressive specifications, delivering up to 2,000 TOPS of AI compute. More importantly, it slashes autonomous driving suite costs by 50% and reduces the total cost of ownership by 84% over its lifecycle compared to its predecessor. These advancements significantly improve the economic viability of large-scale autonomous vehicle deployment.
Tony Han, Founder and CEO of WeRide, emphasized the importance of this development, stating, "Our close collaboration with Lenovo and NVIDIA represents a major breakthrough in computing power, system architecture, and cost efficiency. Integrating the HPC 3.0 platform into our Robotaxi GXR enhances vehicle reliability and responsiveness while significantly reducing deployment costs." The company plans to extend this platform across more of its L4 autonomous vehicles, including Robobus and Robosweeper, potentially revolutionizing urban mobility in cities worldwide. Investors appear to be betting heavily on WeRide's enhanced market position and growth prospects following this announcement, as reflected in the substantial stock price increase.