"Uber, British autonomous driving startup Wayve, and Nissan announced on Thursday that they have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop and pilot a robotaxi service in Tokyo, with the first deployments planned for late 2026, pending regulatory approval. The partnership marks Uber's first autonomous vehicle collaboration in Japan."
"Under the arrangement, Nissan LEAF electric vehicles will be fitted with Wayve's AI Driver, an end-to-end autonomous system the company has been testing in Japan since early 2025, and made available to passengers through Uber's ride-hailing platform. In the initial phase, a trained safety operator will remain in each vehicle."
"For Wayve, founded in Cambridge in 2017 by Alex Kendall and Amar Shah, the announcement is a further step in a commercialisation push that crystallised last month. On 25 February, the company raised $1.2 billion in a Series D round led by Eclipse, Balderton, and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, valuing it at $8.6 billion."
Uber, British autonomous driving startup Wayve, and Nissan announced a memorandum of understanding to develop and pilot a robotaxi service in Tokyo, with deployments planned for late 2026 pending regulatory approval. Nissan LEAF electric vehicles will be equipped with Wayve's AI Driver, an end-to-end autonomous system already tested in Japan since early 2025, and offered through Uber's platform with a safety operator present initially. Uber will launch through a licensed taxi partner currently being selected. This partnership represents Wayve's commercialization progress following its $1.2 billion Series D funding round in February, valuing the company at $8.6 billion. Uber committed up to $300 million in milestone-based capital for multi-year robotaxi deployments across Wayve's network, with Tokyo as the second confirmed city after London.
Read at TNW | Tech
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