by Stellantis, Wayve and Uber join forces to create a global robotaxi program
Autonomous driving is becoming a reality thanks to a new partnership between Stellantis, Wayve and Uber. The companies have announced a collaboration aimed at launching Level 4 robotaxis in cities around the world. They combine car manufacturing, artificial intelligence software, and a ridesharing network with millions of users.
This news comes less than a month after Stellantis and Wayve announced plans to create a Level 2++ autonomous driving system for production cars that will be available for purchase in 2028. This technology promises supervised automated driving on highways and in urban conditions, making the new deal a logical step in the development of autonomy.
New partnership: focus on driverless driving
The new partnership is focused on fully driverless operation. Stellantis will provide vehicles specifically designed for autonomous service, Wayve will supply the AI Driver software, and Uber, which recently signed a separate deal with startup Nuro, will connect these vehicles to passengers through its global mobility platform.
While robotaxi announcements are not rare today, this deal carries more weight because the companies have already been working on it. Stellantis and Wayve are jointly developing next-generation driver assistance systems for consumer vehicles, and Wayve and Uber are already preparing autonomous ridesharing services in London, Tokyo, and ten other cities starting this year. These are major players in their fields, not new names no one has heard of.
Clean-sheet design
At the vehicle level, Stellantis says its L4-Ready platforms are being designed with the sensors, redundancy systems, and durability required for driverless fleets that will cover large distances daily. Instead of adapting existing cars, these platforms are being created as robotaxi-ready from the start. The single image shows a minivan-shaped vehicle with Peugeot-style wheels, but there is no clue as to which brand the finished cars will be released under.
Wayve’s contribution is its map-free AI technology, designed to learn and adapt to different environments, which should make expansion into new cities fast and cheap. Uber, for its part, offers what many robotaxi startups will spend years trying to build. It already has a huge global customer base that opens its app daily. If robotaxis are to become mainstream, integrating them into a familiar platform could remove one of the biggest barriers to adoption.
The companies say they will now work on vehicle integration, testing, validation, and subsequent deployment in Europe, North America, and other regions. Currently, the deal is a non-binding memorandum of understanding, so there is still much work ahead.
This partnership demonstrates how major players in the automotive and technology industries are trying to accelerate the adoption of autonomous transport. The combination of Stellantis’ manufacturing capabilities, Wayve’s innovative software, and Uber’s ready-made platform creates a powerful alliance capable of competing with other robotaxi developers. However, given that the deal is still only a memorandum, the key challenge remains the practical implementation and scaling of the technology across different cities and countries, taking into account local regulations and infrastructure.
