Uber and Wayve announce self-driving pilot in London

(Sharecast News) - Ride-hailing giant Uber and automated driving tech firm Wayve on Tuesday announced plans for the first-ever public-road trial of autonomous vehicles in London.

The UK is currently the largest market where Uber has announced an intention to pilot self-driving cars, which marks a "significant step forward in bringing autonomous vehicles to the streets of Europe at scale", the companies said in a joint statement.

The pilot will combine Wayve's 'Embodied AI' platform with Uber's network, trialling so-called level-four fully autonomous vehicles on London's streets.

The companies acknowledged that UK cities represent "complex driving environments" with significantly different road layouts and traffic dynamics compared with the US, where the majority of level-four testing has been conducted so far.

"The lessons learnt from the UK will therefore be a major step forward in the development of L4 technology for deployment in cities around the world," the joint statement said.

The announcement coincides with the launch of an accelerated framework for self-driving commercial pilots, as announced by the transport secretary Heidi Alexander on Tuesday.

"Today's agreement, between two leading names at the forefront of the sector, is a fantastic vote of confidence in this new technology," Alexander said. "By fast tracking pilots of self-driving vehicles to spring 2026, we are excited to see safety-first tests that will drive growth, create 38,000 jobs and add £42bn to our economy."

Andrew Macdonald, president and chief operating officer at Uber, said: "We're excited to take the next step in our journey with Wayve, bringing autonomous mobility to one of the world's busiest and most complex urban environments."

Uber shares were rising 1.3% to $88.25 in pre-market trading in New York.