(Yicai Global) March 29 -- WeRide, a Chinese autonomous driving startup, will start testing its solutions in Singapore after joining hands with the largest public transport operator in the Southeast Asian city-state.

The robotaxi firm penned a memorandum of understanding with Strides, a business arm of Singapore's SMRT, to cooperate last September, the Guangzhou-based firm said in a statement yesterday. WeRide counts SMRT and K3 Ventures, a famous Singaporean venture capital firm, as some of its strategic investors.

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong paid a visit to WeRide in China recently and shared his experience of riding Robobus on social media. The autonomous minibus can go up to 40 kilometers per hour.

Tony Han, chief executive and founder of WeRide, said that the firm has many talents who studied in Singapore and returned to China while the Singapore unit, established in September, even attracts outstanding people locally.

"We will make the office our center to develop in the Asia Pacific region," Han said, adding that the firm will bring its autonomous driving technologies to other markets in Southeast Asia by teaming with local governments, colleges, as well as upstream and downstream partners.

Founded in 2017, WeRide has developed Robotaxi，Mini Robobus, Robovan and Robo Street Sweeper. It has carried tests of autonomous driving vehicles in twenty five cities in five countries, with a fleet of over 500 autonomous driving vehicles.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi