Autonomous vehicle technology based in the United Kingdom and Uber planning to launch a robot service without a London driver in the coming years.
The news comes shortly after the UK announcement of an accelerated framework for self-leading pilots. UK Minister of Transport Heidi Alexander confirmed Tuesday that the UK government could accelerate pilots by the spring of 2026 by the end of 2027 to encourage investment in autonomy in the country.
Wayve and Uber did not share many details about their upcoming launch, such as when the companies started testing and service, with how many vehicles or through the vehicle manufacturer’s partners. Wayve said in April that its technology would head to Nissan’s vehicles.
The announcement follows Uber’s strategic investment in Wayve in 2024 that promised to see the AI start -up built into consumer vehicles that will operate one day on the Uber platform.
A Wayve spokesman told TechCrunch that companies will start in the UK capital and escalate in Grand London and beyond. First, any company involved at the start of a robotaxi service should prove relevant security cases in regulators.
“We have an ecosystem of a partner to provide market service,” Sarah Gates, director of public policy, told Techcrunch. “Wayve provides integrated into a basic vehicle provided by a vehicle manufacturer and then we would have a fleet operator and Uber would operate the service.
In the case of Wayve, the company must prove the security of the system and how it leads to its operating planning field. Uber would have separate commitments on the operation of a passenger service responsibly and having things like customer service in place.
“This is a decisive moment for the UK autonomy,” said Alex Kendall, CEO and co -founder of Wayve, in a statement. “With Uber and our worldwide partner, we are preparing to put AI driver technology on the streets of London, providing the vision AV2.0 for scalable autonomy.
Wayve recently posted a blog Analyzing the original findings from the “AI-500 Roadshow”, a project to visit 500 cities using a single AI model by the end of 2025. So far, the start has hit 90 cities in 90 days, extending to Asia, Europe and North America. The show is designed to prove that Wayve technology can work anywhere placed, instead of relying first on mapping an area.
These are the relevant data in a company such as Uber, which operates worldwide and has made agreements with almost every AV company to escalate its autonomous potential quickly.
“Uber has one of the largest mobility networks in the world, so the fact that our AI can serve as a global network is a great reason why this partnership and that [driverless] The test is so important, “said Tilly Pieelichaty, a Wayve spokesman, told TechCrunch.” We start in the United Kingdom, but the ambition is to go everywhere. “
