WeRide Inc. unveiled its first annual financial results since listing in Hong Kong on Monday. The company reported total revenue of RMB 685 million for 2025, marking a significant year-on-year increase of 89.6%. Product revenue surged to RMB 360 million, up 310.3% compared to the previous year, shifting the company's revenue structure from being service-driven to one propelled by product sales and scaled deliveries.
On the profitability front, gross profit reached RMB 207 million, an 86.8% increase year-on-year. The gross margin stood at 30.2%, remaining largely consistent with the previous year's 30.7%, indicating that during the rapid scaling phase, costs associated with hardware delivery and data services rose in tandem, with economies of scale not yet translating into margin expansion. Regarding losses, the operating loss under IFRS was RMB 1.8 billion, narrowing by 15.5% year-on-year, while the net loss was RMB 1.655 billion, a reduction of 34.2%. However, a more concerning figure is the non-IFRS adjusted net loss of RMB 1.247 billion, which widened compared to RMB 802 million the previous year. This suggests that, excluding items like share-based compensation, the company's operational investment intensity has increased, primarily driven by continued heavy spending on research and development and global compliance efforts.
Operational and commercial progress formed another key theme. The global autonomous driving fleet expanded from 1,089 vehicles at the end of 2024 to 2,113 vehicles as of the announcement date, with the global robotaxi fleet reaching 1,125 vehicles. Domestically, the Total Cost of Ownership decreased by 38% year-on-year, attributed to improved remote assistance efficiency and Bill of Materials cost reductions. Internationally, the company secured the "first municipal-level fully driverless commercial operation license outside the United States" in Abu Dhabi, advanced operational deployments with Uber in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and obtained Europe's first passenger transport driverless license in Switzerland, creating greater potential for replicable international scaling.
Revenue: Product Revenue Exceeds 50%, Robotaxi Drives Scale
Total revenue for 2025 was RMB 685 million, comprising RMB 360 million from product sales and RMB 325 million from services. Structurally, product revenue's contribution rose to approximately 52.6% (compared to 24.3% in 2024), completing a transition within a year from a project/service-oriented model to a product delivery-focused approach. The company attributed the significant product revenue growth primarily to the widespread deployment and scaling of autonomous taxis, autonomous minibuses, and unmanned sanitation vehicles. Service revenue grew by only 18.8% year-on-year, but with notable internal segmentation:
- Revenue from intelligent data services increased by RMB 104 million. - Revenue from autonomous driving-related operations and technical support services increased by RMB 17.7 million. - ADAS R&D service revenue decreased by RMB 70.1 million (due to the completion of customized R&D services for a specific client in the third quarter of 2024).
This indicates that the "sustainable portion" of service revenue (data and operational support) is growing, while "project-based, large-order" customized R&D services are phasing out, improving revenue quality towards more replicable business lines, albeit with potential short-term growth volatility.
Gross Profit and Costs: Gross Margin Holds at 30%, Scaling for Cost Reduction Remains Key
The cost of revenue for 2025 was RMB 478 million (2024: RMB 250 million), rising alongside delivery scale and data service volume. Gross profit was RMB 207 million, with a gross margin of 30.2%, remaining stable. The failure of the gross margin to increase despite rapid product revenue scaling typically reflects two factors: firstly, initial hardware deliveries still incur high supply chain, integration, and deployment costs; secondly, the growth in intelligent data services also pushes up service costs. While the company emphasizes TCO reduction and BOM cost-cutting operationally, the translation of these improvements to the financials (particularly the gross margin) often lags. Future observation will focus on whether pre-installed mass-production models and enhanced remote assistance efficiency can further improve unit economics.
Expenses: R&D Spending Intensifies, Administrative Costs "Appear Lower But Rise Underlying"
Total operating expenses for 2025 were RMB 2.042 billion, down from RMB 2.284 billion in 2024, primarily influenced by fluctuations in items like share-based compensation. Breaking down the expenses:
- R&D expenses increased to RMB 1.372 billion (2024: RMB 1.091 billion). Excluding share-based compensation, R&D expenses were RMB 1.212 billion, a 41.4% increase from RMB 857 million the previous year, attributed to strengthening global data compliance and advancing pre-installed robotaxi R&D. The increase mainly stemmed from personnel-related costs, R&D project service fees, and material consumption/depreciation. - Administrative expenses significantly decreased to RMB 596 million (2024: RMB 1.139 billion). However, excluding share-based compensation, administrative expenses were RMB 312 million, actually increasing by 55.0% year-on-year, mainly due to rising professional service fees related to legal compliance and increased personnel costs from bolstering support functions for global business expansion. - Sales and marketing expenses reached RMB 73.6 million, showing growth. Excluding share-based compensation, the increase was 52.6%, still significantly lower than the revenue growth rate, indicating some sales leverage.
Overall, the company is in a phase of triple investment in "R&D + compliance + globalization." The core challenge on the expense side is not whether to invest, but whether the investments can be rapidly translated into replicable city operations and stable delivery orders.
Losses: IFRS Losses Narrow, but Adjusted Loss Expansion Reveals Investment Intensity
Under IFRS standards:
- Operating loss was RMB 1.8 billion, a 15.5% year-on-year reduction. - Net loss was RMB 1.655 billion, a 34.2% year-on-year reduction. - Basic and diluted net loss per share was RMB 1.79 (2024: RMB 8.54).
However, the company's non-IFRS adjusted net loss was RMB 1.247 billion, higher than the RMB 802 million in 2024. The difference arises partly because share-based compensation decreased to RMB 450 million in 2025 (2024: RMB 1.188 billion), making the IFRS figures appear more improved. Conversely, the adjusted figure better reflects operational burn rate, indicating that at the current revenue level, it is insufficient to cover the cost structure during this expansion phase, given elevated R&D and compliance investments. A simple calculation highlights the pressure: comparing 2025 revenue of RMB 685 million to R&D expenses of RMB 1.372 billion shows that R&D intensity remains extremely high, underscoring the urgency for the commercial expansion to achieve financial self-sufficiency.
Operations: Fleet Doubles, Order Density Rises, China Enters "Efficiency-Driven" Phase
The company reported its global autonomous driving fleet has reached 2,113 vehicles, nearly doubling from 1,089 at the end of 2024, with the robotaxi fleet totaling 1,125 vehicles. The domestic commercial and testing robotaxi fleet exceeds 800 vehicles, with emphasis on increased operational density, reduced wait times, and comprehensive point-to-point coverage within operational zones. More consumer-facing metrics include: an average of 15 daily orders per vehicle over the past six months, peaking at 26 orders; and registered users for China's robotaxi service in Q4 2025 growing over 900% year-on-year. Regarding access points, beyond its own app and mini-programs, the company has integrated into Tencent's mobility service WeChat mini-program and Amap, with plans to join Tencent Map, aiming to leverage platform traffic to reduce customer acquisition and cold-start costs.
Costs and Unit Economics: TCO Drops 38%, Remote Assistance and BOM Cuts Are Key Levers
The company attributed the 38% reduction in China's TCO for 2025 to two key improvements:
- Leap in Remote Assistance Efficiency: The ratio of remote assistance personnel to vehicles improved from 1:10 in 2024 to 1:40 after upgrades, significantly diluting per-vehicle labor costs and laying the foundation for a "more vehicles, fewer people" scaling model. - Hardware Cost Reduction: The Bill of Materials cost for the new-generation GXR robotaxi model (equipped with HPC 3.0) decreased by 15%. The company also emphasized pre-installed autonomous driving systems and shortened production assembly time (targeting under 10 minutes) to reduce costs and consistency risks associated with retrofitting.
Unit economics signals from international operations are more direct: the company stated that after obtaining a municipal-level fully driverless commercial license in Abu Dhabi (eliminating the in-vehicle safety operator requirement), the local fleet achieved unit economic breakeven. For the industry, regulatory relaxation (removing safety operators) often has a more immediate impact on the cost curve than single-point technological breakthroughs.
Overseas Expansion: Securing Licenses and Platform Partnerships, Betting on "Replicable" Light-Asset Model
As of the announcement date, the company's operations span 12 countries and over 40 cities. Outside China and the US, the robotaxi fleet exceeds 250 vehicles, claimed to be the largest in those regions. The core strategy for international expansion in 2025 centered on "licenses + platforms":
- Middle East: In October 2025, secured the world's first municipal-level fully driverless commercial license outside the US (in Abu Dhabi). In November, launched fully driverless commercial operations with Uber in Abu Dhabi, expanding downtown coverage to 70%. In December, partnered with Uber and Dubai's RTA to launch public passenger services in Dubai, where users can select "Autonomous" within the Uber App. - Europe: In November, obtained Europe's first driverless passenger transport robotaxi license in Switzerland, claiming to be the only company holding autonomous driving licenses in eight countries. - Southeast Asia: In November, initiated testing with Grab in Singapore, with public passenger services expected to begin before April 2026.
The company also emphasized a "light-asset model," utilizing partners and leasing companies to keep vehicles largely off the balance sheet, accelerating city deployment and avoiding cold-start challenges. For investors, the success of this model hinges on platform revenue sharing, clarity of operational responsibilities, and the ability to replicate unit economic improvements across different national regulatory frameworks.
Outlook: Target of 2,600 Robotaxis by End-2026, Scaling Hinges on Regulation and Unit Economics Replication
The company projects that based on current expansion plans, the global robotaxi fleet will reach 2,600 vehicles by the end of 2026, serving as a "preliminary step" towards deploying tens of thousands of robotaxis globally before 2030. The near-term validation of this path depends on the simultaneous occurrence of two factors: firstly, more cities obtaining regulatory approvals similar to Abu Dhabi's (especially regarding the removal of safety operators); and secondly, the successful and stable replication of the TCO reduction and light-asset partnership model in more countries, enabling revenue growth to continue outpacing expense growth.