Wayve and Uber held a glitzy party at The Royal Horticultural Society’s HQ on Vincent Square in London last night (Thursday 3 September), and rightly so.
Delivering on the promise made at London Tech Week, lucky members of the public within the M25 might now get to travel in one of 15 all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-Es, equipped with upgraded sensors and the Wayve AI Driver software – see our recent test ride.
The headline in the press release flirted with overegging, stating “Wayve and Uber Launch First-Ever Autonomous Rides in the UK”. What of the award-winning Alexander Dennis and Fusion Processing achivements in Scotland and Cambridge, Ohmio in Milton Keynes?
Also, as we pointed out when Verne claimed a European first in Zagreb in May, there’s still a safety driver behind the wheel. We’re simply not as gung ho as America on self-driving, not even at the remote driver stage yet, and there are very good reasons for this more cautious approach.
Be in no doubt though, this is another momentous moment and the great and good of UK self-driving were out in force to mark it – luminaries including Dr Nick Reed, Professor John McDermid, Professor Siddartha Khastgir, and our 2025 Industry Legend, Michael Talbot.
Notably, London-based Wayve has successfully beaten off competition from global giants including Waymo and Baidu to rollout to the public here first. Another important aspect of the event was the unveiling of the new Sunderland-built Nissan Leaf robotaxi, which the home favourite plans to use to scale. Exciting times!
London riding a Wayve
Wayve CEO Alex Kendall explained that the possibility of being offered an AV is no longer restricted to the 140,000 people who expressed an interest in the preferences section of the Uber app. Instead, any Uber user in London could potentially be offered one, with the option to decline and specify a human-driven private hire vehicle instead.
“We’ve already completed hundreds of rides all around London, north and south of the river, east to west,” he told the assembled crowd. “I’m proud that our car has driven autonomously and smoothly in all these scenarios.
“It has been a decade in the making and I want to thank everyone who’s made this possible – my team for grinding away on one of the most difficult problems in the world, the policymakers who’ve built the regulatory path, everyone who’s championed and supported and invested in us, and to Uber for turning on unlimited demand through an app we all know and love.”
Perhaps most encouragingly of all, the audience contained both Bhavini Makwana, Campaigns & Projects Manager at the Thomas Pocklington Trust, a national charity which supports blind and partially sighted people, and Tom Fyans, CEO of The London Cycling Campaign.
Makwana reported exceptional engagement from Wayve in delivering tangible benefits for disabled consumers. “Uber is a brand we’re familiar with and I cannot wait to try a Wayve in real life,” she said.
Official comments
Alex Kendall said: “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. 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.”
Sarfraz Maredia, Global Head of Autonomous Mobility at Uber, said: “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. 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.”
Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, said: “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. 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.”
Business Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said: “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. 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.”
Starting today, Londoners requesting an UberX, Uber Electric or Uber Comfort (except for airport journeys) may be matched with a Wayve-powered vehicle at no extra cost, with every trip ‘overseen’ by a trained and TfL-licensed private hire driver.
