WeRide, one of China’s big three robotaxi companies, has cut research and development (R&D) costs by “millions” of US dollars by using artificial intelligence to train its fleet in virtual worlds, reports the South China Morning Post citing the company’s CEO.
While rivals have also developed AI models simulating the physical world, WeRide’s efforts stood out as it was using its world model Genesis to support its global expansion strategy, CEO Tony Han told the Post. “It’s the first real marriage between physical AI and generative AI,” Han said.
Genesis enables WeRide engineers to simulate rare edge cases that are key to ensuring self-driving safety yet difficult to capture in the real world. This had resulted in a reduction of at least 75% in WeRide’s data labelling and collection costs, Han said, adding that such costs made up a large percentage of the company’s R&D spending–around RMB 316 million ($46 million) in the third quarter of 2025, or around 73% of total operating expenses.