Uber Launches First Commercial Driverless Robotaxis In Middle East With WeRide

• Uber users in Abu Dhabi can be matched with a WeRide robotaxi through Uber Comfort, UberX, or the Autonomous category. 
• WeRide and Uber now expect to scale operations in the Middle East region.
• In Abu Dhabi, the companies intend to cover additional areas by the end of 2025 itself.

Uber Technologies (UBER) and its autonomous driving partner WeRide (WRD) launched fully driverless robotaxi commercial operations in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. This makes Abu Dhabi the first city outside the United States to host fully driverless operations on the Uber platform.

Public commercial robotaxi operations started on Wednesday with routes on Yas Island. The robotaxi did not have a vehicle specialist onboard, the companies said.

Uber effectively shut down its internal autonomous vehicle-making division, known as the Advanced Technologies Group (ATG), when it sold the unit to Aurora Innovation in December 2020, following concerns, including a fatal accident involving one of its self-driving vehicles. Since then, Uber has inked partnerships with multiple robotaxi companies, including Pony AI, WeRide, and Alphabet Inc’s Waymo. The company is now looking to scale deployments across multiple cities and regions where these robotaxis will operate alongside human drivers.

About The Partnership

The Abu Dhabi launch follows WeRide’s procurement of a federal permit for the purpose last month. Uber users can be matched with a WeRide robotaxi through Uber Comfort, UberX, or the Autonomous category on the ride-hailing app.

“With the fully driverless commercial launch, latest permit, and ongoing improvements in vehicle utilization, the WeRide-Uber Robotaxi services in Abu Dhabi are on track to achieve breakeven unit economics,” the companies said in a statement.

WeRide and Uber now expect to scale operations in the Middle East and scale the number of robotaxis to be deployed over the coming years to thousands. In Abu Dhabi, the companies intend to cover additional areas by the end of 2025. WeRide currently has over 100 robotaxis in the Middle East.

How Did Stocktwits Users React?

Both UBER and WRD shares traded more than 1% higher in the pre-market session at the time of writing.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around UBER stock stayed within the ‘bullish’ territory over the past 24 hours, while message volume remained at ‘normal’ levels.

UBER stock has risen 32% this year while WRD shares dropped 44%. 

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