The government has signed a formal partnership with Wayve, one of the UK’s leading artificial intelligence scale-ups, in a move designed to put Britain at the forefront of next-generation self-driving technology.
The Memorandum of Understanding between the Department for Business and Trade and the autonomous driving pioneer aims to deepen collaboration on research, support responsible deployment of automated vehicles, and reinforce the UK’s global leadership in AI-enabled mobility.
The agreement brings government and industry together around shared research interests, including safety assurance, simulation at scale, and integration of full self-driving technology into production-ready vehicle platforms. By linking cutting-edge AI research with real-world deployment and manufacturing, the partnership aims to act as a catalyst for new investment, skilled jobs and long-term growth across the UK automotive ecosystem.
Wayve will share insights from real-world trials with government and regulators, supporting learning that can unlock national roll-out of self-driving services and inform future regulations and standards. The partnership also includes working with vehicle manufacturers, mobility providers and local authorities to deploy commercial passenger services that align with local transport priorities.
The deal reinforces the UK’s ambition to be a global hub for automated vehicle manufacturing, strengthening domestic supply chains in areas such as AI, systems integration and advanced automotive hardware. Through closer collaboration with industry and local partners, the agreement supports the revival and evolution of UK automotive manufacturing while demonstrating the government’s commitment to helping fast-growing British companies scale at home rather than overseas.
The partnership builds on the government’s Modern Industrial Strategy, which has already helped secure around £360 billion in investment commitments, £33 billion in export announcements and 120,000 jobs since publication. Both participants have also committed to creating high-value jobs and developing priority skills pathways in areas such as safety engineering, autonomy and systems integration.
The government and Wayve share an ambition to promote the UK as a global leader in automated mobility, supporting the development of international standards and frameworks for safe and scalable automated driving while promoting UK AI leadership in key export markets.
Alex Kendall, Co-Founder and CEO, Wayve said: ‘I’m delighted to deepen our collaboration with the Department for Business and Trade. We share the Government’s ambition to drive economic growth through the development of the self-driving vehicle sector in the UK and globally.
‘Strengthening domestic capabilities will anchor high-value manufacturing in the UK, create thousands of skilled jobs across the supply chain, and support the future of the automotive industry. This is in addition to the transformative benefits to road safety to be gained from self-driving vehicles deployed at scale.
‘Wayve has a proud history of developing our technology in the UK. We look forward to working with DBT on a shared set of priorities to ensure the UK continues to lead and that the full set of benefits is realised across the country.’