Chinese artificial intelligence (AI)-based logistics company Westwell on Tuesday opened an international headquarters in Hong Kong, a springboard for global expansion.
The Shanghai-based company, which designs and manufactures AI chips and autopilot control systems for AI-powered autonomous vehicles for the logistics industry, will also set up a research center in the city.
“Hong Kong’s strategic location, its well-established infrastructure and its status as an international financial center provide innovation and technology companies with access to global markets,” said Ke Yangming, Westwell’s vice president of global strategic affairs. It enables connections to be made.” “And our major clients, such as Hutchison Port Holdings and China Merchants Ports, are also based in Hong Kong.”
The new headquarters will be opened at an opening ceremony late Tuesday morning by Westwell executives and government officials Professor Sun Dong, Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, and Lilian Cheung-min Lee, Under-Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry.
The Office of Attracting Strategic Enterprises (Oases), which works to attract high-potential and strategic enterprises to Hong Kong from industries including fintech, artificial intelligence and data science, facilitated the initiative.
Westwell launched its flagship product, the Q-Truck, an autonomous, battery-powered commercial vehicle, in 2018, two years after the company was founded.
After five rounds of fundraising last year, the company is valued at 7 billion yuan (US$973 million), with investors including China-based Essence Securities and InnoStar Ventures under Shanghai-based Fusun Group.
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In 2020, Westwell expanded into the overseas market by collaborating with Hutchison Ports to introduce its autonomous trucks at Thailand’s Laem Chabang port. The company also signed a deal with the Port of Felixstowe to deploy 100 Q-Trucks at the UK’s largest container port, which is part of the Hutchison Ports network. So far 34 trucks have been delivered.
Westville employs more than 700 staff, with 80 percent focused on research and development, Yang said. He added that it plans to cooperate with universities and research institutes in Hong Kong to accelerate the research and application of AI and autonomous driving technology and promote smart and green technology.
Yang said there have been discussions with the University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, but no concrete plans have been made.
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Westville’s future plans include expanding into “semi-closed loop” environments, such as autonomous transport between airports and logistics parks. But specific details about potential partners have not been revealed.
He said that the company has done extensive research on the autonomous driving ecosystem around the world during its global expansion plan. Westwell believes locating in Hong Kong will create business opportunities thanks to the Hong Kong government’s efforts to leverage technology for research and development, accelerating digital transformation and upgrading industrial infrastructure. .
Hong Kong has established a number of innovation centers and incubation programs. The Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, which operates the science and technology park, offers various tax incentives and other business support measures to attract innovative companies in various sectors, Yang said.