China’s two leading L4 autonomous driving companies, WeRide and Pony.ai, made their simultaneous debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today. However, both companies experienced a challenging start, with their share prices falling over 10% shortly after opening.

The dual listing follows their earlier NASDAQ debuts in October and November 2024, establishing a “US + Hong Kong” dual-listing structure aimed at broadening financing channels, attracting Asia-Pacific investors, and enhancing stock liquidity. Combined, the two companies have raised nearly 8 billion yuan (1.12 billion USD) in funding.

WeRide, which commenced trading this morning, raised net proceeds of 2.26 billion HKD (291 million USD) in its IPO. The final offering price was set at 27.10 HKD (3.49 USD) per share, with the company issuing 88.3 million shares in its global offering. Within four minutes of opening, WeRide’s stock price dropped 13.65% to 23.4 HKD (3.01 USD), valuing the company at 24.02 billion HKD (3.10 billion USD).

Pony.ai, also listing concurrently, secured net proceeds of 6.45 billion HKD (830 million USD). Its final offering price was determined at 139 HKD (17.88 USD) per share. The company issued 48.3 million shares after fully exercising its offering size adjustment option. Four minutes into trading, Pony.ai’s shares fell 12.23% to 122 HKD (15.69 USD), giving it a market capitalisation of 52.12 billion HKD (6.70 billion USD).

Both companies remain unprofitable. WeRide’s revenue stood at 528 million yuan (73.92 million USD) in 2022, decreasing to 402 million yuan (56.28 million USD) in 2023 and 361 million yuan (50.54 million USD) in 2024. However, the second quarter of 2025 showed signs of recovery, with total revenue increasing by 60.8% year-on-year to 127.2 million yuan (17.81 million USD), primarily driven by an astounding 836.7% surge in Robotaxi business revenue. In the first half of 2025, service revenue reached 130 million yuan (18.2 million USD, a 0.76% year-on-year increase), while product sales revenue soared by 228.57% to 69 million yuan (9.66 million USD).

Pony.ai’s annual revenue grew from 68.38 million USD in 2022 to 75.03 million USD in 2024. By the second quarter of 2025, its revenue reached 35.43 million USD .

In terms of profitability, WeRide incurred cumulative net losses of nearly 5.8 billion yuan (812 million USD) from 2022 to 2024. However, in the first half of 2025, its net loss narrowed to 791 million yuan (111 million USD). Gross profit for the first half of 2025 increased by 10.91% to 61 million yuan (8.54 million USD), with a gross margin of 28.1% in the second quarter. Pony.ai’s net loss expanded from 148 million USD in 2023 to 275 million USD in 2024.

Both companies have made significant investments in research and development. WeRide’s total R&D expenditure amounted to 3.556 billion yuan (498 million USD), with 644 million yuan (90.2 million USD) spent in the first half of 2025 alone. Pony.ai’s R&D spending was 154 million USD in 2022, 123 million USD in 2023, and 240 million USD in 2024, totaling approximately 613 million USD over the past four years.

WeRide & Pony.ai IPO Allocation and Financial Data Overview

Metric	WeRide	Pony.ai
IPO – Over-subscription	73.44×	15.88×
IPO – Hong Kong tranche	17.7 million shares	4.2 million shares (8.7 %)
IPO – International placement	9.85× covered	7.72× covered
IPO – International tranche	70.6 million shares	44.1 million shares (91.3 %)
IPO – Greenshoe	13.2 million shares	7.24 million shares
Revenue (2022)	528 million yuan	≈ 490 million yuan
Revenue (2023)	402 million yuan	≈ 510 million yuan
Revenue (2024)	361 million yuan	≈ 530 million yuan
Revenue (Q2 2025)	127.2 million yuan	≈ 154 million yuan
Net loss (2024)	2.51 billion yuan	≈ 1.95 billion yuan
Net loss (H1 2025)	791 million yuan	≈ 640 million yuan
Gross margin (H1 2025)	30.60 %	16.30 %
Cumulative R&D spend	3.556 billion yuan	≈ 4.342 billion yuan
R&D spend (H1 2025)	644 million yuan	≈ 680 million yuan

Technological approaches and commercialisation

WeRide employs a “software-first” autonomous driving technology platform called “WeRide One,” designed for versatility across various vehicle types and applications. Its core products include Robotaxi, Robobus, Robovan, Robosweeper, and the advanced intelligent driving solution, WePilot. WeRide holds autonomous driving licenses in five countries and conducts testing and commercial operations in ten countries. Its autonomous driving vehicles have accumulated approximately 55 million kilometres on public roads and maintained over 2,200 consecutive days of public operation.

Pony.ai focuses on a full-stack “Virtual Driver” technology, described as a “hardware-driven” strategy. Its core products are Robotaxi and Robotruck. Pony.ai has obtained 24 Robotaxi permits in tier-one cities and boasts a fleet of 726 vehicles as of the latest practicable date, with a cumulative operating mileage of 93 million kilometres.

Recent developments include Pony.ai’s seventh-generation Robotaxi, which recently entered official operation. This vehicle features 34 sensors to handle complex road conditions and unexpected scenarios, along with Pony.ai’s self-developed, world-first L4 Robotaxi automotive-grade domain controller equipped with four Orin-X chips.

WeRide is also making strides in assisted driving, with its one-stage end-to-end ADAS solution successfully achieving SOP (Start of Production). This solution will be delivered to consumers with the annual facelift models of Chery Exeed Exlantix ES and ET.

Editor’s comment

At the time of this article’s publication (14:15 Beijing Time, 6th November), WeRide’s Hong Kong share price was 23.4 HKD, down 13.65% from its listing price of 27.1 HKD. Pony.ai’s Hong Kong share price was 120.4 HKD, down 13.38% from its listing price of 139 HKD.