LONDON — Uber has opened an interest list for customers in London who want to ride in Wayve autonomous vehicles. The ride-sharing company and Wayve stated that this service will launch in the coming months. London customers can join the interest list within the Uber app settings under the ride preferences section, which the company indicated would increase their chances of being matched with a Wayve autonomous vehicle at launch and provide service updates.
Customers who are matched with a Wayve vehicle will receive an in-app notification and have the option to switch to a nonautonomous ride. Riders requesting UberX, Uber Electric, or Uber Comfort will pay standard rates for these autonomous vehicle rides. The initial rollout of autonomous vehicles in London will be phased rather than citywide.
Local regulations in the United Kingdom currently require autonomous vehicles to have a licensed safety driver behind the wheel. Kaity Fischer, vice president of operations at Wayve, said there is no strict timeline for removing human supervisors from the vehicles. Initial Wayve rides will be supervised by licensed drivers who have received specialized safety training.
Wayve has been testing its autonomous vehicle technology in London since 2018. The United Kingdom does not currently have fully driverless vehicles operating on public roads. Victor Charoonsophonsak, a company representative, said the initial fleet would consist of a mid-to-high single-digit number of vehicles. Fischer said that the initial vehicle rollout would include dozens of cars rather than hundreds.
The company integrates its autonomous vehicle hardware at the manufacturing stage, rather than retrofitting it afterward. Uber displayed a black Ford Mustang Mach-E equipped with Wayve's self-driving system in London. The company raised $1.2 billion in funding in February, with Uber participating as a returning investor.
No independent assessment was available for this report.