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Uber has rolled out its fully driverless robotaxi in Abu Dhabi in partnership with the Chinese autonomous vehicle company WeRide.
The robotaxi service, which will no longer have an onboard safety driver, is open to the public and will start with journeys on Yas Island, a district popular with tourists and where the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Formula 1 takes place.
The launch marks the first driverless taxi service outside of the United States, and its fourth market. It is labelled at level 4 autonomous driving, which means the vehicle is capable of operating without human intervention in specific conditions.
WeRide partnered with Uber in September 2024 and began offering autonomous rides with a safety operator on board in Abu Dhabi last December.
Uber and WeRide also debuted robotaxi rides with a safety operator on board in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in October.
Uber said in May that it plans to roll out the WeRide service to 15 more cities, including in Europe, over the next five years.
Europe is increasingly eyeing level 4 autonomous robotaxis. This week, Estonia’s ride-hailing platform Bolt announced it is partnering with the Chinese self-driving company Pony.ai to bring autonomous vehicles to Europe.
Chinese self-driving technology companies are ramping up their presence in Europe as they face restrictions in the US market.
WeRide has launched full driverless robotaxi services in China’s Beijing and Guangzhou, the company said.