Uber has launched its first fully driverless robotaxi service outside the United States in Abu Dhabi, partnering with China’s WeRide to expand its autonomous vehicle offerings.
The service became available Wednesday in the capital of the United Arab Emirates. This marks Abu Dhabi as Uber’s fourth market for fully driverless operations.
Previously, Uber offered robotaxi services in Austin, Phoenix, and Atlanta through a partnership with Alphabet’s Waymo.
Passengers in Abu Dhabi can now book a driverless WeRide taxi by selecting the autonomous option when requesting an UberX or Uber Comfort ride.
The driverless vehicles will operate in specified areas on Yas Island. Support is available to passengers during their journey via the Uber app and an in-vehicle tablet.
Uber has emphasized its strategic pivot towards autonomous vehicle technology through partnerships. This ambition to offer optimized and cheaper driverless rides dates back to at least 2015.
WeRide began offering autonomous rides with an operator alongside Uber in Abu Dhabi in December, following a similar launch with a safety operator in Riyadh in October.
The ride-sharing giant plans to expand its robotaxi services to 15 additional cities, including some in Europe, over the next five years.
Uber also secured a six-year contract in July with electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid and autonomous vehicle startup Nuro for robotaxi services. WeRide independently operates full driverless robotaxi services in Beijing and Guangzhou, China.