Wayve-powered autonomous vehicles are launching on Uber in London in the coming months — the first time public passengers will ride in a self-driving car on British roads.
Londoners can join the interest list today through the Uber app; rides will be priced the same as a standard UberX with no premium.
At launch, a safety operator will be in the vehicle — fully driverless operations come later, following the same phased approach Waymo used in the US.
In 2017, New Zealand-born Alex Kendall started Wayve in a rented house near Cambridge and told anyone who would listen that the autonomous driving industry was solving the wrong problem. Building HD maps city by city, packing vehicles with expensive lidar arrays, coding rules for every junction — Kendall argued it was all the wrong direction. The industry largely dismissed him. Waymo had been at it for nearly a decade.
Eight years later, Wayve-powered rides are arriving on Uber in London. From today, Londoners can join the interest list through the Uber app to be matched with one at launch. The fare will be identical to a standard UberX — no surcharge for riding in a car that drives itself.
