Ride-hail giant Uber and Chinese autonomous vehicle technology company WeRide have launched a commercial robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi. The launch marks Uber’s first international autonomous vehicle offering.
Uber has been snatching up partnerships with autonomous vehicle companies across sectors, including ride-hail, delivery, and trucking. Other partners include Wayve, Serve Robotics, Aurora Innovation, Waabi, and others.
Still, investors are wary that incumbents like Uber won’t be able to compete with the companies building the technology, like Waymo and potentially Tesla. On Thursday, Uber’s stock dropped nearly 10% after Waymo announced plans to launch a robotaxi service in Miami – this despite the fact that a true autonomous vehicle-flavored disruption to the ride-hail industry will take years, and that Uber may be one of the apps where riders end up connecting to those robotaxis.
Uber’s launch with WeRide, which went public on the Nasdaq in late October, will be small-scale, according to an Uber spokesperson. Neither Uber nor WeRide shared how many vehicles would hit Abu Dhabi’s streets initially. The first rollout will take place between Saadiyat Island, Yas Island, and along routes to and from Zayed International Airport, with plans to expand in the future.
A human safety operator will be present in each vehicle to start, with a fully driverless commercial launch planned for later in 2025.
Uber and WeRide will work with local Tawasul Transport to handle fleet operations.