Wayve wins TfL licences and starts carrying London's Uber riders

Wayve wins TfL licences and starts carrying London's Uber riders

3 September 2026: Londoners who request an UberX, Uber Electric or Uber Comfort ride can now be matched with a car driven by Wayve's AI, at no extra cost. Transport for London has granted Private Hire Vehicle licences to several of Wayve's all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E cars, and a licensed human driver rides in each one.

Licensed by the city

TfL inspected the cars against its policy and safety standards before issuing the licences, which Wayve announced on 5 August. The cars use the Wayve AI Driver with surround cameras and radar.

Wayve calls the result a triple-lock: the operator, the driver and the vehicle must all be licensed by the same authority. The vehicle licences complete it. Sarah Gates, vice president for global affairs and assurance at Wayve, said: "This licence is an important step towards giving Londoners the chance to experience autonomous driving technology."

Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, said: "This is a major milestone for the future of transport in London". Jonathan Reynolds, the Business Secretary, said: "These autonomous vehicles use homegrown, British AI from Wayve".

How a ride works

The trips run under the Government's AV Trialling Code of Practice and under Uber's TfL private hire operator licence. A trained, TfL-licensed private hire driver is on board each trip and can take over.

Once matched, a rider can accept the Wayve ride or switch to a non-autonomous ride before the car arrives. After the car arrives, riders open the doors and start the trip through the Uber app. Upfront fares appear in the app. The in-car screen, designed by Uber, works in 64 languages and shows the planned path. At launch, rides can go anywhere in London except the airports.

Demand and fleet

Wayve describes the fleet as a small number of cars, with growth tied to rider demand, readiness and regulation. Interest is much larger: more than 140,000 Londoners have opted in through Trip Preferences in the Uber app, up from more than 100,000 who joined Uber's interest list in the eight weeks before 5 August.

Because a driver is on board, the rides are supervised rather than driverless. Wayve describes them as the first autonomous trips in the UK and the country's first autonomous ride-hailing service. Alex Kendall, its co-founder and chief executive, said: "We're proud to introduce the Wayve AI Driver to the public for the first time right here in London".

British-built technology

Wayve is headquartered and was founded in London, and has trained its AI on London's roads since 2018. On 12 May it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department for Business and Trade to research the move of self-driving vehicles from prototype to commercially viable services, covering safety assurance, simulation at scale and production-ready vehicle platforms. Wayve said it would share real-world trial insights with government and regulators to inform national roll-out, future regulations and standards.

The company calls its method AV2.0: an AI Driver that learns from experience and does not rely on traditional HD maps or hand-coded rules. Wayve says it has demonstrated the system in more than 500 cities.

Twelve markets and Tokyo

London is the first of a wider plan. The Uber partnership includes an investment to put Wayve-powered vehicles on the Uber network in 12 markets, starting with London. A Nissan LEAF with the Wayve AI Driver on NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion is planned for Tokyo later in 2026. Uber says it works with more than 30 autonomous vehicle partners.

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Sources

• Wayve: Wayve and Uber launch autonomous rides in London, 3 September 2026
• Wayve: Wayve receives Private Hire Vehicle licences from Transport for London, 5 August 2026
• Wayve: Wayve signs partnership with UK Government, 12 May 2026