Uber has partnered with WeRide to launch a robotaxi service in the Arab Emirates (but with a driver for now)

Uber has partnered with Chinese company WeRide to launch a robotaxi service in the Arab Emirates.

Here's What We Know

Abu Dhabi residents will now be able to order a robot taxi through the Uber app. As with a regular taxi, the service is payable in advance and fares will be the same as UberX and Uber Comfort.

For now, there will be a driver in the cabin for safety and to prevent emergencies on the road, but within 2025 the taxi will switch to a completely unmanned mode.

WeRide is a Chinese company that develops unmanned driving systems, not only for taxis, but also for buses and lorries. It already has a licence for unmanned transport in the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, China and the US, but its cooperation with Uber is limited to the Emirates for now.

Uber once tried to set up robotaxi development on its own but abandoned the idea in 2020, and now acts as an aggregator for services from companies such as WeRide, Cruise, Waymo, Motional and Avride (for unmanned cars) and Serve, Cartken and Nuro for delivery robots.

Source: WeRide