GUANGZHOU, China — Chinese language autonomous driving start-up WeRide has partnered with main automaker Guangzhou Car Group (GAC Group) to launch driverless taxis on the latter’s ride-hailing service Ontime.

The deal highlights the push to commercialize so-called robotaxis in China on a big scale in an business that has develop into more and more aggressive.

WeRide makes autonomous driving programs however doesn’t manufacture vehicles. As an alternative, it appears to accomplice with automakers — on this case GAC. Ontime is a ride-hailing app which is partly owned by GAC. The three corporations will carry autonomous taxis onto the platform, which customers can hail through the app.

The businesses plan to supply take a look at rides for the general public on the Guangzhou Auto Present on Friday. The robotaxi service can be out there to the broader public by 2022, the businesses mentioned.

WeRide, which is backed by automaker Nissan and valued at over $3 billion, has been testing an autonomous taxi service since 2019 within the southern Chinese language metropolis of Guangzhou the place it’s headquartered.

The corporate faces intense competitors from different upstarts together with Pony.ai and AutoX in addition to giants like Baidu.

Robin Li, CEO of Baidu, mentioned Wednesday that the corporate plans to launch its personal robotaxi service in 100 cities by 2030.