Uber is letting customers in the U.K. join an interest list to increase their chances of being matched with a Wayve autonomous vehicle.
The move signals preparation for a London robotaxi rollout that would pit Uber, the ride-hailing giant, directly against Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving unit.
Uber unveiled a branded black Ford Mustang Mach-E fitted with Wayve's self-driving system and said it plans to launch the service in the coming months, pending regulatory approval.
Wayve will supply the autonomous driving technology while Uber has designed the interior experience, including interactive touchscreens that support 64 languages, and customers matched with an AV would pay no extra fare and can opt out and request a human driver.
The Wayve vehicles will initially operate with a human safety operator behind the wheel before moving to fully driverless operations later.
Waymo meanwhile began testing in London in April with human safety operators and is running about 100 autonomous Jaguar I‑Pace vehicles across a roughly 100‑square‑mile area of the city.
The move in London complicates a U.S. relationship in which Waymo put vehicles on Uber's app in Phoenix in 2023 and the pair expanded that integration to Austin in March 2025 and later to Atlanta, with differing hailing arrangements across cities.
Uber has also created AV Labs and Uber Autonomous Solutions and invested in multiple autonomous vehicle companies including Wayve, which has raised $1.2 billion and could see its total reach $1.5 billion thanks to a $300 million tranche from Uber contingent on deploying robotaxis beginning in London, while the U.K. transport department opened applications in May for an AV pilot whose findings it will use to shape future regulation.
