Uber And Weride’s Robotaxi Service In Abu Dhabi Is Officially Driverless

A twelvemonth aft launching a commercial robotaxi service successful Abu Dhabi, Chinese autonomous conveyance exertion institution WeRide and partner Uber tin yet telephone that work driverless.

The companies said nan commercialized robotaxi service, which will nary longer person a quality information usability down nan wheel, is unfastened to nan nationalist and will commencement pinch routes connected Yas Island, a tourer territory that is location to nan Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Formula 1 racing circuit.

Image Credits:Uber/WeRide

Robotaxi operations successful Abu Dhabi will activity likewise to Uber’s business pinch Waymo successful Austin.

Uber riders that prime Uber Comfort aliases UberX successful Abu Dhabi whitethorn beryllium matched pinch a WeRide robotaxi. Riders who want to summation their chances of being matched pinch a afloat autonomous conveyance tin prime nan “Autonomous” action successful nan Uber app. Uber and WeRide are besides moving pinch fleet usability partner Tawasul.

The motorboat comes a period aft WeRide secured a national licence from nan United Arab Emirates to behaviour afloat driverless robotaxi commercialized operations. WeRide and Uber scheme to widen driverless services to screen further areas successful Abu Dhabi’s metropolis center.

“Today’s afloat autonomous motorboat successful Abu Dhabi represents a historical proscription milestone, arsenic nan first driverless AV deployment extracurricular of nan U.S. aliases China,” Sarfraz Maredia, Uber’s caput of autonomous mobility and delivery, said successful a statement.

Uber has spent nan past 2 years locking up partnerships pinch 20 autonomous conveyance exertion companies successful various countries, including nan United States, Europe, and nan Middle East.

Those partnerships person expanded beyond nan realm of robotaxis arsenic well. Uber’s deals span nan afloat scope of self-driving applications, including transportation and trucking. This twelvemonth alone, it announced partnerships with Ann Arbor, Michigan-based May Mobility and Volkswagen, Chinese self-driving firms Momenta, Pony.ai, and Baidu, arsenic good arsenic a caller woody to create a premium robotaxi service utilizing Lucid Gravity SUVs equipped pinch a self-driving strategy from San Francisco-based startup Nuro.

These deals are yet opening to materialize into commercialized services. For instance, Uber and Waymo launched a robotaxi work earlier this twelvemonth successful Austin. Now, Uber has expanded to nan Middle East pinch WeRide successful Abu Dhabi — pinch moreover much cities to come, including Dubai.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi forecast successful nan company’s third-quarter net study that location would beryllium autonomous conveyance deployments connected nan Uber web in astatine slightest 10 cities by nan extremity of 2026. 

Uber and WeRide person antecedently shared plans to grow to 15 cities passim nan Middle East and Europe, yet scaling to thousands of robotaxis. That would correspond a monolithic leap for WeRide, which coming has much than 150 robotaxis successful nan region.