WeRide goes driverless with Uber.
Plus, Waymo gets embroiled in another noise snafu.
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Now, Here’s What You Need To Know Today.
WeRide and Uber have launched the Middle East’s first fully driverless commercial robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi.
The rollout begins on Yas Island, where Uber riders selecting UberX or Uber Comfort may be matched with a WeRide robotaxi. Those who want a higher chance of riding in a fully autonomous vehicle can choose the Autonomous option in the Uber app. The service follows a model similar to Uber’s partnership with Waymo in Austin, and is supported locally by fleet operator Tawasul. WeRide secured federal approval from the United Arab Emirates last month, clearing the way for commercial Level 4 operations without a safety driver. Uber and WeRide plan to expand into additional parts of Abu Dhabi’s city center in the coming months, and have outlined ambitions to launch services in as many as fifteen cities across the greater Middle East and Europe, with long-term plans to scale to thousands of robotaxis. WeRide currently operates just over 150 robotaxis in the region, making the Abu Dhabi deployment a significant step toward that broader expansion.
Uber’s head of autonomous mobility and delivery, Sarfraz Maredia, called the launch the first fully driverless robotaxi deployment outside the United States or China. Uber has spent the past two years building a network of more than twenty AV partners across the United States, Europe, and the Middle East, spanning robotaxis, delivery, and autonomous trucking. Recent deals include partnerships with May Mobility, Volkswagen, Momenta, Pony.ai, Baidu, and a premium robotaxi program using Lucid Gravity SUVs equipped with Nuro’s self-driving system. As more of these partnerships move from pilots to commercial service, Uber expects autonomous vehicles to operate on its network in at least ten cities by the end of 2026.
Haomo.AI has seemingly suddenly imploded.
The self-driving subsidiary, once backed by Great Wall Motor which is one of the largest car brands in China, has effectively halted operations after employees were told to stop reporting to work with no explanation. Staff received a brief verbal message from human resources instructing them not to return starting November 24, according to Chinese media reports. When reporters visited the company’s offices in Beijing and Shanghai, they found empty workspaces, powered-down equipment, and no leadership presence. Employees described months of delayed wages, frozen bank accounts, disabled communication channels, and no word from senior management. Neither Haomo.AI nor Great Wall Motor has issued a formal statement, leaving staff uncertain whether the pause is temporary or a full shutdown.
Haomo.AI was spun out of Great Wall’s intelligent driving division in 2019 and supplied the automaker with its HPilot driver-assist and autonomous-driving system, which was installed in more than twenty Great Wall models. The startup once boasted strong investor interest and was reportedly valued at over $1 billion, but recent signs of financial strain included shrinking cash flow, layoffs, and top-management turnover. Insiders say Haomo.AI struggled to turn its technology into large-scale production orders.
Has crowdfunding gone too far? Zeekr has launched a crowdfunding campaign in China to upgrade the driver-assist hardware and software on its older models.
The company announced the program on Weibo and is inviting owners to register between November 24 and December 24. The subsidized retrofit costs 13,500 yuan for the 001 and 18,500 yuan for the 009, while the full prices without vouchers are significantly higher. Zeekr will move forward once it reaches at least 3,000 participants for the 001 and 1,500 for the 009. The upgrade replaces the Mobileye EyeQ5H system with Zeekr’s in-house G-Pilot H7 platform, which runs on Nvidia’s Drive Thor U architecture and increases computing power from 48 TOPS to 700 TOPS.
This move definitely raises my eyebrows, but I guess it makes sense on some level. Upgrading to the H7 system requires substantial hardware work, including new chips, rewired harnesses, reworked system architecture, and in the case of the 001, nearly sixty individual parts replaced over more than twenty hours of labor. If there isn’t a high demand for the retrofit, it might not make sense to even develop it. A crowdfunding campaign could be a good estimate of real intent to purchase. The company says that once installed, owners will gain access to a wider set of ADAS features such as the Navigation Zeekr Pilot highway assist system, Hone Zone Park Assist, and the General Automated Evasion System for emergency steering support. Zeekr says it is covering the bulk of development and validation costs, with roughly 200 million yuan invested to make the retrofit possible.
What do you think about this crowdfunding ploy? Let me know in the comments.
Waymo has become embroiled in another noise snafu.
Santa Monica City officials have ordered the company to stop overnight charging at two Santa Monica sites after months of resident complaints about noise and traffic from its robotaxi fleet. The company must halt operations between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. at its charging locations after neighbors reported persistent disturbances, including backup beeping, charger noise, and vehicle traffic through alleyways. The restrictions follow complaints that began soon after the facilities opened in late 2024. A letter obtained by the Los Angeles Times warned that Waymo could face litigation if it failed to comply.
This issue is actually near and dear to my heart. Readers might remember when, around August/September of 2024, Waymo set up a depot under my window. However in my case, the cars were honking at each other in the depot with nobody around.
In my case, the story blew up into international news, and the company issued a series of fixes to stop the cars from honking in the parking lot, before eventually throwing my building an ice cream party, then leaving the lot entirely after a couple more months. In the Santa Monica case, Waymo told local media it has already taken steps to address concerns, including lowering reversing sounds, reducing congestion around the sites, and limiting vehicle cleaning to daytime hours.
However, setting up an open air depot in a predominantly residential neighborhood is tough. Disturbances caused by necessary operations, whether or not intended, will inevitably occur. Machines will cause noise. Traffic will inevitably be disruptive due to the high volume of ingress and egress.
In my opinion, it’s almost not worth trying to mitigate all the possible issues that could arise, as the reputational and operational impacts for getting it wrong could be severe. In this situation, the city has already imposed sanctions on Waymo’s activities, and the company risks more sanctions if resident complaints persist. In this situation, I think it would be better to start looking for locations to relocate the depot, if the company hasn’t been already.
But what do you think about this situation? Let me know down below.
In Other News…
Nvidia releases open reasoning vision language action model (VLA) for autonomous driving research
Mobileye will replace side and rear lidars in L4 product with imaging radar
Waabi unlocks direct-to-customer model with surface street driving capabilities
Pony.ai plans to triple global robotaxi fleet by the end of 2026
Alright, that’s it from me… until next week. If you enjoy this newsletter, share it with your friend, colleague, or boss. Thank you for reading; Sophia out!
Regarding the Waymo charging stations in Santa Monica, I agree with you all the way: annoying residents with charging operations then trying to stand firm could easily backfire. Why would you risk being officially charged with being a Public Nuisance?
Apparently setting up shop in a predominantly residential area was deemed, at some point, to be a good idea / sound investment, but now I’m interested to see if Waymo decides to close the Santa Monica shop to minimize the bad air or dig their heels in and justify this choice of locations.
I know you’ll keep us informed!