Waymo's net loss narrowed by 30% to 1.7 billion yuan last year, with Robotaxi business revenue doubling.

The sales of autonomous driving company WeRide have significantly increased, improving its high dependence on service revenue.

On the evening of March 23, WeRide (NASDAQ: WRD, 0800.HK) announced that the company achieved revenue of 314 million yuan in the fourth quarter of 2025, a year-on-year increase of 123%; the operating loss was 577 million yuan, a year-on-year narrowing of 1.7%; the net loss was 556 million yuan, a year-on-year narrowing of 6.1%.

It is noteworthy that the company’s gross profit margin in the fourth quarter saw a significant decline to 28.5%. The same period in 2024 was 36.5%. The financial report stated that the overall gross profit margin decline in the fourth quarter of 2025 was mainly due to the low contribution from high-margin ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) R&D services.

For the full year, the financial report showed that the total revenue for the company in 2025 was 685 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 89.6%; the operating loss for the year was 1.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year narrowing of 15.5%; the net loss was 1.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year narrowing of 34.2%; the annual gross profit margin was 30.2%, nearly flat compared to 30.7% in 2024.

In terms of R&D investment, the company reported R&D expenses of 1.4 billion yuan for the full year of 2025, up from 1.1 billion yuan in 2024.

As of December 31, 2025, WeRide had cash, cash equivalents, time deposits, restricted cash, and financial products (measured at fair value with changes recognized in profit or loss) totaling 7.1 billion yuan.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, WeRide’s product revenue significantly surpassed its service revenue.

Breaking down the revenue, WeRide’s product revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025 was 211 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 308.9%, primarily driven by increased sales of autonomous taxis (Robotaxi) and autonomous minibuses (Robobus); service revenue was 103 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.2%.

For the full year, its product revenue was 360 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 310.3%, mainly due to the widespread launch and scaled development of autonomous taxis (Robotaxi), autonomous minibuses (Robobus), and autonomous street sweepers (Robosweeper); service revenue was 325 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.8%.

In the Robotaxi business, which is of most interest to the market, the company’s Robotaxi business revenue, including both product and service revenue, was 50.6 million yuan in the fourth quarter, up 66.4% year-on-year. For the full year 2025, the Robotaxi business revenue, including both product and service revenue, was 148 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 209.6%.

As of the announcement date, the company had a global Robotaxi fleet of 1,125 vehicles.

WeRide stated that Robotaxi remains the core driving force behind the company’s business growth. The company is gradually evolving towards a more data-driven autonomous driving system by incorporating end-to-end learning, utilizing large-scale data training and world model simulation, as well as enhancing algorithm generalization capabilities.

In the Chinese market, the company reported a 38% reduction in total cost of ownership (TCO), primarily due to improved operational efficiency and decreased bill of materials (BOM) costs. Additionally, the company increased the remote assistance human-to-machine ratio from 1:10 in 2024 to 1:40, significantly reducing the labor cost per vehicle.

Furthermore, the company’s newly upgraded autonomous taxi GXR has led to a 15% decrease in BOM costs. Its next-generation GXR autonomous taxi, developed in collaboration with Geely’s remote vehicle, is designed specifically for autonomous driving, is a factory-built vehicle that does not require post-production modifications, and can achieve higher safety consistency, lower unit costs, and faster assembly speeds.

Regarding the international market, WeRide stated that its autonomous vehicles have been tested or operated in over 40 cities across 12 countries. The company claims to be “the first and only technology company to obtain autonomous driving licenses in eight markets (China, Switzerland, UAE, Singapore, France, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, and the United States).”