WeRide Secures UAE Approval for Fully Driverless Robotaxi Operations

In Abu Dhabi, passengers could soon order a ride with no one behind the wheel. Chinese autonomous driving firm WeRide has been granted approval by the UAE federal government to launch fully driverless robotaxi operations in the capital, with rides to be available through Uber and TXAI platforms in the city.

The licence, approved in October by the UAE’s Regulations Lab under the Cabinet Secretariat, permits WeRide to operate without on‑board safety operators, with the company describing it as the “first city-level commercial licence for Level 4 autonomous driving to be issued outside of the US.” Level 4 autonomy enables vehicles to operate without human intervention in most conditions.

WeRide claimed that removing in‑vehicle safety operators is expected to improve unit economics and help achieve per‑vehicle operational break‑even. The firm has tested in Abu Dhabi since 2021 through a partnership with TXAI and, in December 2024, expanded to work with Uber, creating what it called the largest commercial robotaxi fleet outside China and the US. The company said its Abu Dhabi fleet has since accumulated nearly one million kilometres of road mileage.

Since the second quarter of 2025, WeRide has conducted fully driverless testing in the city to validate system reliability, working with the Abu Dhabi Integrated Transport Centre to complete “stringent safety and regulatory assessments.” The UAE approval comes as Geely‑backed CaoCao Mobility partners with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office to explore autonomous taxi deployment, making CaoCao the fourth Chinese robotaxi company to enter the UAE market, alongside WeRide, Baidu’s Apollo Go and Pony.ai.