With British innovation as its core technology, Uber and Wayve have launched supervised autonomous rides in London, marking the first time autonomous trips are available in the United Kingdom. Starting today (3 September), Londoners requesting an UberX, Uber Electric, or Uber Comfort may be matched with a Wayve ride at no extra cost.

Riders matched with a Wayve ride will travel in an all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicle equipped with the Wayve AI Driver, as well as surround sensors. The in-vehicle experience, designed by Uber, features interactive screens available in 64 languages where riders can start their trip and view the vehicle’s planned path.

• Accept your Wayve ride: On every trip, riders will have the option to accept or switch to a non-AV ride before the car arrives.
• Familiar app, new experience: Once the Wayve vehicle arrives, riders can unlock the doors, and start the trip – all from their Uber app.
• Operating area: At launch, riders will be able to travel anywhere within London, apart from airports.
• Safety is a top priority: Any AV on the Uber network must meet all of the company’s Safety Guidelines. The initial launch phase features supervised autonomous rides, meaning a trained and TfL licensed private hire driver is onboard to oversee the trip.
• Gradual growth: Starting with a small number of vehicles in this initial phase, the fleet will grow over time, in line with rider demand, readiness, and regulation.

“We’re proud to introduce the Wayve AI Driver to the public for the first time right here in London, our home city and one of the most complex driving environments in the world,” said Alex Kendall, CEO and Co-founder of Wayve. “Autonomous driving technology will complement the city’s rich transport network, and we’re excited for Londoners to experience it first as we begin our global rollout with Uber.”

“We’re delighted to bring autonomous rides to Uber riders in London for the very first time, powered by Wayve, a homegrown British success story”, said Sarfraz Maredia, Global Head of Autonomous Mobility & Delivery at Uber. “London is a world-class hub for transportation innovation and this launch is a major milestone in scaling safe, accessible AV technology in a city with some of the world’s most complex roads.” 

“This is a major milestone for the future of transport in London, as British innovation brings this technology onto our roads and gives passengers more choice. As this technology develops, we want to support new opportunities for investment and skills, while recognising the important role that those working in the sector today will continue to play”, said Heidi Alexander, Transport Secretary. “Today’s announcement further cements Wayve’s status as a technology trailblazer here in the UK, and highlights how British innovation is helping drive investment and growth in transport.”

“From today, people will be able to step into the technology of the future as autonomous vehicles are rolled out on the streets of London, and that is a hugely exciting milestone for the UK”, said Business Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds. “These autonomous vehicles use homegrown, British AI from Wayve, once again showing that we have the ability to be a genuine world leader in the AI transformation.”

Headquartered and founded in London, Wayve has built and specifically trained their AI technology on the capital’s challenging roads since 2018. Wayve’s “AV2.0” approach utilizes an AI Driver that learns from experience, much like a human, allowing it to scale and adapt to complex environments without relying on traditional HD maps or hand-coded rules. 

This launch is part of Uber and Wayve’s partnership, which included an investment to put Wayve-powered vehicles on the Uber network in 12 markets around the world, beginning with London. Wayve’s autonomous driving technology is agnostic to vehicle platforms and sensor configurations, enabling it to scale quickly. As part of the future service in London and other global markets, Wayve and Uber will also introduce riders to the Nissan LEAF vehicle, powered by the Wayve AI Driver using NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion, starting in Tokyo later this year. 

(Picture: Uber/Wayve)