Wayve and Uber plan London robotaxi launch after UK speeds up autonomous vehicle rollout

Summary

U.K.-based autonomous vehicle technology company Wayve and Uber plan to launch a fully driverless robotaxi service in London in the coming years. The news comes soon after the U.K.’s announcement of an accelerated framework for self-driving commercial pilots. U.K. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander confirmed Tuesday that the U.K. government would fast-track pilots to spring 2026, up from late 2027, to incentivize investment in autonomy in the country. Wayve and Uber did not share many details of their upcoming launch, such as when exactly the companies would begin trials and service, with how many vehicles, or via which vehicle manufacturer partner or partners. Wayve said in April that its tech would be headed to Nissan vehicles. The announcement follows Uber’s strategic investment into Wayve in 2024 that promised to see the startup’s AI integrated into consumer vehicles that will one day operate on Uber’s platform. A Wayve spokesperson told TechCrunch the companies would start in the U.K. capital and scale out to greater London and beyond from there. First, every company involved in launching a robotaxi service would need to prove relevant safety cases to regulators. “We have a partner ecosystem for bringing a service to market,” Sarah Gates, Wayve’s director of public policy, told TechCrunch. “Wayve provides driving intelligence integrated into a base vehicle provided by a vehicle manufacturer, and then we would have a fleet operator, and Uber would operate the service. So each part of that supply chain would need to prove safety and responsible deployment for what they’re responsible for.” In Wayve’s case, the company needs to prove the safety of the system and how it drives within its operational design domain. Uber would have separate commitments around operating a passenger service responsibly and having things like customer service in place. “This is a defining moment for U.K. autonomy,” Alex Kendall, Wayve’s CEO and co-founder, said in a statement. “With Ub...