Autonomous driving specialist WeRide (NASDAQ: WRD) cruised to a big gain on the stock market Friday, with its shares closing up by over 10% in value. The investor enthusiasm for the company was understandable, as it secured a new license to test its technology. With that gain, the stock trounced the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC), which inched up by 0.5% that trading session.
Early that morning, WeRide announced that its Robobus autonomous vehicle had been granted a test permit for Level 4 autonomy in Belgium. (The Society of Engineers devised a scale ranging from Level 0 — momentary driver assistance, to Level 5 — full automation. Level 4 is high automation.)
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