UBER's Deal With Wayve Furthers its AV Ambitions: Here's How

Uber Technologies UBER has signed a deal with Wayve, an autonomous driving and artificial intelligence start-up founded in Cambridge, as it aims to bring self-driving taxis to Britain’s streets next year.

To this end, the companies announced a first-ever plan to develop and launch public-road trials of Level 4 fully autonomous vehicles (AVs) in London. The development marks the United Kingdom as the largest market where Uber has announced an intention to pilot autonomous vehicles. For these trials, the companies will utilize Wayve's Embodied AI platform with Uber’s global mobility network.

Heidi Alexander, the United Kingdom’s secretary of State for Transport, confirmed that the government will fast-track pilots to spring 2026 for introducing self-driving commercial pilots on England’s roads. This move is likely to result in the creation of 38,000 jobs and provide a boost to the United Kingdom’s economy. Wayve and Uber will work closely with the U.K. Government and Transport for London on the permitting and regulatory approval process necessary before launch.

Uber aims to gain a stronghold in the highly promising robotaxi market through strategic partnerships. The above association is a step on that front. By adopting this approach, Uber has avoided massive R&D costs associated with developing autonomous systems independently.

Taking a Look at AV Ambitions of Rival LYFT

Lyft LYFT also has ambitions to be a key player in the lucrative and emerging autonomous vehicle market. The company, too, has inked quite a few deals in this respect, like May Mobility, an automated driving company, Mobileye Global MBLY, Nexar and Marubeni. Lyft intends to launch Mobileye-powered robotaxis shortly. Mobileye Global is based in Israel.

UBER’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

Shares of Uber have gained 42.4% in the past six months, outperforming the Zacks Internet-Services industry’s 8.4% decline in the same time frame.

Six-Month Price Comparison

From a valuation perspective, Uber is relatively expensive. Going by its price/earnings ratio, the company is trading at a forward earnings multiple of 27.58, above the industry’s 18.74. The company has a Value Score of D.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Uber’s 2025 and 2026 earnings has been revised upward over the past 60 days.

UBER's Zacks Rank

UBER currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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