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Uber is ramping up its investment in autonomous vehicle technology, launching its driverless robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi, the first of its kind in the Middle East.
The announcement, made on Wednesday, is part of a joint venture with Chinese company and global leader in autonomous driving technologies, WeRide. The partnership was originally forged in September of 2024.
Uber already offers robotaxi services in several US cities, including Austin, Phoenix, and Atlanta, through a partnership with Waymo, launched under Google’s Alphabet brand. The pair have also announced plans to enter Europe next year, beginning trials in London in 2026.
Uber promises that riders will be able to book fully autonomous vehicles via the Uber app when requesting an UberX or Uber Comfort. Unlike the free autonomous trials that began operation back in December, these cars will not come equipped with an onboard safety operator.
The news follows Uber and WeRide’s October announcement, which unveiled plans to begin a robotaxi service with safety operators on board in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Speaking in an interview with CNBC, CEO and co-founder of WeRide Tony Han discussed the company’s dual-pronged approach to autonomous innovation, saying:
“WeRide is the only autonomous driving company in the world taking both Tesla’s approach and Waymo’s approach. For Waymo’s approach, we use Level 4 robotaxis with HD maps and a traditional machine-learning framework — that part we have already put into operation. For Tesla’s approach, we have just rolled out WePilot 3.0, which is comparable to Tesla’s FSD (Full Self-Driving), and our ADAS system has already been installed in several of Chery’s mass-production passenger cars.”
WeRide and Uber have also announced ambitious plans to scale up their robotaxi operations, with an expected 15 additional cities to be added within the next five years.
According to WeRide’s own filings, their autonomous-vehicle products have received driving permits in eight countries: China, UAE, Singapore, Switzerland, France, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, and the US.
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