Uber joins forces with Wayve in a move to introduce autonomous vehicles on their service platform.
Uber and Wayve Team Up to Deploy Self-Driving Vehicles Worldwide
Uber Technologies and Wayve Technologies Ltd, a leading autonomous driving company, have announced a collaboration to deploy self-driving vehicles on Uber's ride-hailing network in multiple global markets. This partnership is an extension of Wayve's $1.05 billion Series C funding round, led by SoftBank Group, with participation from Microsoft and Nvidia.
The collaboration, announced in May 2023, is not the first partnership Uber has entered into with an autonomous driving company. Uber has been working with various companies to add autonomous driving technology to its platform. Notably, Uber has also entered into an agreement with General Motor Co.'s Cruise unit to deploy autonomous vehicles on its ride-hailing platform. Beginning next year, riders can select an autonomous Chevy Bolt-based EV for qualifying rides in San Francisco.
Under the terms of the agreement with Wayve, Uber has acquired a 26% stake in Aurora, a partner company involved in the deal. This partnership comes after Uber sold its Advanced Technologies Group to Aurora for $4 billion in December 2020. Since then, Uber has been focusing on working with industry partners to develop more advanced autonomous driving technology.
Uber and Wayve aim to develop Level 4 autonomous driving technology to deploy on Uber's ride-share network in the future. Wayve's technology could potentially bring its autonomous driving technology to more than 150 million of Uber's monthly global users. The collaboration is aimed at ensuring the AI technology is safe and ready for global deployment.
Wayve will use data provided by Uber to train and improve its AI-powered autonomous driving technology. The company has developed an autonomous driving system called the "Wayve AI Driver" that it plans to sell to automakers. Wayve intends to use the additional funding to develop its AI-powered autonomous driving technology and accelerate its work with global OEMs.
Wayve CEO and co-founder Alex Kendall expressed excitement about the collaboration with Uber, stating that it will allow for massive fleet learning to ensure the AI technology is safe and ready for global deployment. The partnership between Uber and Wayve is separate from Uber's previous collaboration with Waymo, announced in May 2023.
The collaboration between Uber and Wayve is an important step towards Uber's goal of offering driverless rides to its customers. As the autonomous driving industry continues to evolve, partnerships like this one will play a crucial role in bringing self-driving vehicles to the masses.
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