A year after launching a commercial robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi, Chinese self-driving technology company WeRide and partner Uber can finally call the service driverless.
The companies said the commercial robotaxi service, which will no longer have a human safety operator behind the wheel, will be open to the public and will start on a route around Yas Island, a tourist destination that is home to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix F1 circuit.
The robotaxi operation in Abu Dhabi will function similarly to the Uber-Waymo partnership in Austin.
Uber passengers who choose Uber Comfort or UberX in Abu Dhabi may be matched with a WeRide robotaxis. Passengers who want to increase their chances of being matched with a fully self-driving vehicle can select the “self-driving” option in the Uber app. Uber and WeRide are also working with fleet operator partner Tawasul.
The launch comes a month after WeRide received federal permission from the United Arab Emirates to operate a fully driverless robotaxi commercial operation. WeRide and Uber plan to expand their driverless services to cover additional areas of Abu Dhabi’s city centre.
“Today’s launch of fully autonomous driving in Abu Dhabi represents a historic milestone in transportation as the first unmanned AV deployment outside of the United States or China,” Sarfraz Maredia, Uber’s head of autonomous mobility and delivery, said in a statement.
Over the past two years, Uber has strengthened its partnerships with 20 self-driving technology companies in various countries, including the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.
tech crunch event
san francisco
|
October 13-15, 2026
These partnerships extend beyond the realm of robotaxis. Uber’s deals span the full range of self-driving applications, including delivery and trucking. This year alone, the company announced partnerships with Ann Arbor, Michigan-based May Mobility and Volkswagen, Chinese self-driving companies Momenta, Pony.ai, Baidu, and a recent deal to build a premium robotaxi service using San Francisco-based startup Nuro’s Lucid Gravity SUV, which is powered by a self-driving system.
These transactions are finally beginning to materialize into commercial services. For example, Uber and Waymo launched robotaxi services in Austin earlier this year. Uber is currently expanding into the Middle East with WeRide in Abu Dhabi and plans to expand to more cities, including Dubai.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi predicted during the company’s third-quarter earnings call that self-driving cars will be on the Uber network in at least 10 cities by the end of 2026.
Uber and WeRide previously shared plans to expand to 15 cities in the Middle East and Europe, and eventually to thousands of robotaxis. This will be a big leap forward for WeRide, which currently has more than 150 robotaxis in the region.
Source link
