Wayve and Uber launch UK’s first autonomous ride-hailing service in London
Wayve and Uber have launched the UK’s first autonomous ride-hailing service, bringing supervised self-driving journeys to London, widely considered one of Europe’s most complex urban environments.
image: Wayve
Passengers requesting UberX, Uber Electric or Uber Comfort in London can now be matched with an all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E equipped with Wayve’s AI Driver. The service is being introduced with a small fleet and will initially operate with a trained, Transport for London-licensed private hire driver in the vehicle to supervise the system and take control if required.
Passengers will be able to accept or decline a Wayve vehicle before it arrives, with rides charged at no additional cost. The initial operating area covers London but excludes airports. More than 140,000 Uber customers have already opted in to increase their chances of being matched with an autonomous vehicle.
The launch represents the first public deployment of Wayve’s autonomous driving technology. Founded in London in 2017, the company has developed its AI system using the capital's roads since 2018. Unlike autonomous systems that depend heavily on high-definition maps and manually programmed rules, Wayve says its AI Driver learns from driving experience and is designed to adapt to different environments and vehicle platforms.
Wayve CEO and co-founder Alex Kendall said the company was “proud to introduce the Wayve AI Driver to the public for the first time” in London.
“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,” he said.
Uber's global head of autonomous mobility and delivery, Sarfraz Maredia, described the launch as a milestone in expanding autonomous vehicle technology, while Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said it demonstrated the UK's potential to attract investment and develop skills around emerging transport technologies.
The London launch follows a partnership announced by Wayve and Uber in 2025 to develop and trial Level 4 autonomous vehicles in the UK. The wider agreement envisages Wayve-powered vehicles being introduced across 12 markets, with London the first deployment.
The service is launching as the UK establishes a new regulatory framework for self-driving vehicles. The Automated Vehicles Act received Royal Assent in 2024 and provides for vehicles to undergo an authorisation process before being permitted to drive themselves without human control or monitoring, meaning initial Wayve service will be a supervised operation rather than a fully driverless taxi service.
The government is currently developing the detailed safety framework for the system and has also introduced restrictions on the use of terms such as “autonomous”, “self-driving” and “driverless” to describe vehicles that have not been authorised under the new regime.
Uber says it is working with more than 30 autonomous vehicle partners globally and expects to facilitate autonomous trips in up to 15 cities by the end of 2026.