Chinese autonomous driving firm WeRide has received federal approval from the UAE government to launch fully driverless Robotaxi operations in Abu Dhabi, marking the first-ever city-level commercial licence for Level 4 autonomous driving issued outside the United States.
The licence, approved in October by the UAE’s Regulations Lab under the Cabinet Secretariat, allows WeRide to operate Robotaxi services without on-board safety operators. Initially, the driverless service will be available via Uber and TXAI platforms in Abu Dhabi, with further details on the routes and launch timeline to follow.
WeRide has been testing autonomous vehicles in the Emirate since 2021 through its partnership with TXAI. In December 2024, the company expanded into Abu Dhabi with Uber, creating what it described as the largest commercial Robotaxi fleet outside China and the United States, which has now accumulated nearly one million kilometres of mileage in the UAE capital.
Since Q2 2025, WeRide has been conducting fully driverless testing in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Integrated Transport Centre, completing rigorous safety and regulatory assessments to validate system reliability. The company expects that removing in-vehicle safety operators will enhance unit economics and help achieve per-vehicle operational break-even.
This milestone comes as Geely-backed CaoCao Mobility announced its partnership with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office to explore its own autonomous taxi deployment—making it the fourth Chinese Robotaxi company to enter the UAE market, alongside WeRide, Baidu’s Apollo Go, and Pony.ai.
The announcement also follows WeRide’s dual primary listing on the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) under the ticker 0800.HK, through which the company raised approximately HKD 2.39 billion by selling 88.25 million shares. With this achievement, WeRide becomes the first Robotaxi and autonomous driving technology company to be publicly traded on both the Hong Kong and US markets.
Dr Tony Han, Founder and CEO of WeRide, stated that the listing “marks a new beginning” for the company. Analysts view this move as a clear indication that China’s autonomous vehicle industry is shifting from pilot testing to global-scale commercial deployment.
