** Shares of robotaxi company Pony AI PONY.O up ~3.4% at $20.34 premarket, while those of Chinese autonomous driving firm WeRide WRD.O gain 2% at $11.38 after Bloomberg reports Uber UBER.N plans to invest in their Hong Kong listings
** Uber may invest about $100 mln in Pony AI's Hong Kong listing, which follows its U.S. IPO last year; the offering seeks up to $972 mln before any upsizing option - report
** WeRide began its Hong Kong listing to raise as much as $398 mln; Bloomberg reports that Uber also in talks to participate
** Pony AI plans to use Hong Kong listing proceeds to commercialize Level 4 robotaxi and robotruck tech and fund R&D, while WeRide will invest in autonomous tech and mass production of Level 4 fleets over five years; neither is profitable yet -report
** As of last close, U.S.-listed shares of PONY up 37.1% YTD, WRD stock down 21.30% YTD
(Reporting by Tharuniyaa Lakshmi in Bengaluru)
((tharuniyaa@thomsonreuters.com))