* WeRide ( WRD ) CEO Tony Han says company in talks with Australian

regulators

* Autonomous driving firm says overseas revenue jumped 164%

from a year earlier in Q2

* Han says keeping fundraising possibility open if terms are

'good'

BEIJING, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Chinese autonomous driving firm

WeRide ( WRD ) is considering Australia, South Korea, Japan, and

Southeast Asia as potential new markets for expansion, its chief

executive said on Thursday.

The expansion push comes as leading Chinese robotaxi firms

race to establish overseas footholds, seeking new growth markets

and diversified revenue streams as autonomous driving technology

moves closer to commercial deployment globally.

"In Australia, we are talking with the regulatory

authorities about the possibility," WeRide ( WRD ) CEO Tony Han told

Reuters.

Other potential markets include Southeast Asia, South Korea and

Japan, he said, adding that the company was also in talks with

European countries.

The Guangzhou-based firm entered Denmark earlier in August,

extending its European footprint to a sixth country. WeRide's ( WRD )

autonomous vehicles now span more than 60 cities across 13

countries.

Commercial deployments of its right-hand-drive robotaxi

service are also set to begin in Singapore and Hong Kong.

"We want to hire locally and we want to work closely with

the local government officials and the authorities and try to

use as many local collaborators as possible," Han said.

Overseas expansion has become an increasingly important

growth driver for WeRide ( WRD ). The company's second-quarter overseas

revenue grew 164% from a year earlier, outpacing an 82% increase

in total quarterly revenue, according to its disclosure on

Wednesday.

The company's EBITDA loss narrowed 8.1% year-on-year in the

second quarter. It targets achieving positive cash flow in a

single quarter by 2028, with a full-year break-even anticipated

in 2029.

"Currently we don't have a very immediate need for capital

raising," Han said, adding that the company would keep the

possibility open if terms were "good."

WeRide's ( WRD ) global robotaxi fleet exceeded 1,800 vehicles as of

the end of July, part of a level 4 autonomous fleet of about

3,400 vehicles that also includes robobuses and robosweepers.

Han said the company was confident of reaching its target of

deploying 5,000 vehicles of high automation level 4 by the end

of this year, including 2,600 robotaxis.

Beyond its jointly developed purpose-built robotaxi with

Geely Farizon, WeRide ( WRD ) is also co-developing another robotaxi

model with GAC that is expected to deliver further

hardware cost reductions, he said.

The company's longer-term goal is to deploy robotaxis in the

tens of thousands by 2030 before expanding to 1 million vehicles

by 2035.

Robotaxis aside, Han said WeRide ( WRD ) was seeing strong demand

from both Chinese and international automakers for its advanced

driver-assistance systems, which he expects to become "a very

profitable business" for the company.