London has become the first UK city where passengers can book rides in autonomous vehicles, after Uber began matching customers with all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E cars steered by Wayve’s AI Driver. The supervised service launched on September 3 with a small fleet.
During this initial phase, a trained and TfL-licensed driver stays in the car to oversee every trip. Rides surface across UberX, Uber Electric and Uber Comfort at standard pricing with fares shown in advance, and travel is permitted anywhere in the capital except airports. Passengers who prefer a human driver can swap before the vehicle arrives, and those who stay can unlock the doors and start the journey from the Uber app.
Interest has been strong, with more than 140,000 Londoners opting in through their trip preferences. Wayve, founded in the capital and trained on its streets since 2018, builds its AV2.0 system to learn from experience rather than follow high-definition maps and hand-coded rules. The launch kicks off a wider partnership that aims to put Wayve-powered vehicles on Uber’s network across 12 markets.
