Chinese self driving technology firm WeRide has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on the US Nasdaq stock exchange to raise up to US$500m to fund its global expansion.

This was expected to be the biggest IPO in the US by a Chinese company since ride hailing company Didi Chuxing’s ill fated listing in 2021. The company had raised US$4.4bn before it was forced to delist in 2022 after the Chinese government launched a cybersecurity review of its operations just days after the IPO.

WeRide was founded in 2017 and has headquarters in the Guangzhou Wenyuan Zhixing Technology in China’s Guangdong province. It was focused on developing Level 4 and above autonomous driving technology for a wide range of vehicles including public transport buses, private cars and municipal and commercial vehicles.

The company revealed it had permits to operate autonomous driving vehicles in China, US, UAE and Singapore and aimed to carry out trials and commercial operations in 30 cities across seven countries in the near future.

WeRide was valued at over US$5bn by its D+ funding round in 2022.