This is a defining moment for UK autonomy. With Uber and a global OEM partner, we’re preparing to put our AI Driver technology into real service on the streets of London.

Alumnus Alex Kendall

The announcement (made on June 10) highlights the UK as the largest market where Uber has announced an intention to pilot Level 4 (L4) autonomous vehicles. Wayve has said these trials will combine its industry-leading Embodied AI platform with Uber’s global mobility network, marking a significant step forward in bringing autonomous vehicles to the streets of Europe at scale.

The opportunity has been enabled by the UK Secretary of State for Transport’s recent announcement of an accelerated framework for self-driving commercial pilots, a crucial step towards making the UK a world leader in this technology. Wayve and Uber will collaborate with the UK Government and Transport for London on the permitting and regulatory approval process prior to launch.

London and other UK cities represent complex driving environments, with significantly different road layouts and traffic laws compared to locations in the US, where a majority of global L4 testing has until now been conducted. The lessons learnt from the UK will therefore be a major step forward in the development of L4 technology for deployment in cities around the world.

Alex Kendall, CEO and co-founder of Wayve, said: “This is a defining moment for UK autonomy. With Uber and a global OEM partner, we’re preparing to put our AI Driver technology into real service on the streets of London, delivering on our AV2.0 vision for scalable autonomy. Our Embodied AI learns to drive anywhere, in any vehicle, and this trial brings us closer to bringing safe and intelligent driving to everyday rides across the UK and beyond.”

Andrew Macdonald, President and Chief Operating Officer of Uber, said: “We’re excited to take the next step in our journey with Wayve, bringing autonomous mobility to one of the world’s busiest and most complex urban environments. Wayve’s globally scalable AV2.0 approach makes them an ideal partner to bring Uber’s autonomous vision to reality in new cities around the world. Our vision is to make autonomy a safe and reliable option for riders everywhere, and this trial in London brings that future closer to reality.”

Heidi Alexander, Secretary of State for Transport, said: “This agreement, between two leading names at the forefront of the sector, is a fantastic vote of confidence in this new technology. By fast tracking pilots of self-driving vehicles to spring 2026, we are excited to see safety-first tests that will drive growth, create 38,000 jobs and add £42bn to our economy.”

Wayve – the early days

It was during his PhD in Deep Learning, Computer Vision and Robotics, under the supervision of Professor Roberto Cipolla in the Machine Intelligence Laboratory, that the groundwork for what would become Wayve began to take shape. Hear more from Alex about his time at Cambridge.

And in November 2024, Alex returned to Cambridge to give a talk at the Department of Engineering as part of the Department’s 150^th anniversary celebrations.

AV2.0: The foundation for global autonomy

Wayve’s AI-first approach, known as AV2.0, moves beyond the constraints of traditional AV systems that rely on HD maps, hand-coded rules, or geofenced domains. Instead, Wayve’s end-to-end Embodied AI learns from experience like a human driver, enabling it to adapt to new roads, vehicles and cities with unprecedented efficiency.

This capability was recently demonstrated in Wayve’s Global Roadshow, where a single AI Driver navigated 90 cities in 90 days across Europe, North America and Japan – handling dense urban streets, rural tracks and complex highway conditions with minimal prior exposure.

Next phase of the partnership

In 2024, Wayve and Uber announced a multi-year collaboration to integrate Wayve’s Embodied AI into vehicles operating on the Uber platform. This next phase moves the partnership into live operational trials on UK roads, building toward scaled deployment in key European markets.

Adapted from a Wayve press release.

The Princess Royal Silver Medal Alex has recently been presented with The Princess Royal Silver Medal for 2025 – one of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s most prestigious individual awards.  The Medal celebrates an outstanding personal contribution made to UK engineering by an early to mid-career engineer resulting in market exploitation, and up to four medals are awarded each year. It is named in honour of the Academy’s Royal Fellow, HRH The Princess Royal, acknowledging her exceptional role in championing engineering. Luke Logan FREng, Chair of the Academy’s Awards Committee, said: “The winners of The Princess Royal Silver Medal for 2025 are each leading lights in their fields. They have transformed cutting-edge research into commercial success with their entrepreneurial leadership. They have also created technologies that have potential applications in multiple spheres that will have impact on future innovations for decades to come.” Find out more.

Adapted from a University of Cambridge news article and a Royal Academy of Engineering news article.