Key Takeaways:
- PAVE UK welcomes its first members, Wayve, Nissan and Uber, to introduce self-driving vehicle technology to the UK responsibly.
- PAVE UK is the country’s first initiative on enabling public trust and acceptance of this new technology through evidence-based public engagement and education programmes.
- This leading partnership will support the UK’s commercial trials of self-driving vehicles, building accurate public understanding of the technology.
Today, Partners for Automated Vehicle Education United Kingdom (PAVE UK) welcomes Wayve, Nissan and Uber, global leaders in self-driving vehicle technology and its deployment, as its first members to drive public trust and support the responsible deployment of self-driving vehicle technology.
PAVE UK will bring Wayve, Uber and Nissan together to collaborate on scientifically backed public engagement to ensure responsible future deployment of automated vehicles across the country. Wayve and Uber plan to deploy autonomous vehicles in London this year as part of an initial trial that will further public engagement and understanding of the technology.
Established in 2024, PAVE UK serves as the country’s first initiative in advocating for and delivering inclusive and accurate public education and engagement programmes on self-driving technology. Co-founded by the Department for Transport, the Department for Business and Trade, the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV), Transport for West Midlands and WMG, University of Warwick, PAVE UK has engaged with more than 20,000 public members in the self-driving technology journey through evidence-based and interactive materials and activities, including our pioneering virtual reality self-driving experience.
PAVE UK’s self-driving public education and engagement programmes reached more than 25,000 public members at large-scale public events, such as the Cheltenham Science Festival and Goodwood Festival of Speed.
PAVE UK will communicate safety to the general public, including the benefits and limits of this new transport technology. It will also develop principles of responsible self-driving vehicle deployment—such as the role of safety operators in initial trials— and work closely to provide learnings with the government, general public and the wider industry.
Scientifically-backed education and engagement activities are developed by PAVE UK, such as our unique self-driving virtual reality experience, for the general public to understand this new technology correctly.
Professor Siddartha Khastgir, Director of PAVE UK & Head of Safe Autonomy at WMG, University of Warwick, said,
“At PAVE UK, we believe the public must be at the heart of self-driving technology development. This technology will succeed and fully achieve its societal outcomes of serving the mobility needs of the cities, improving safety and accessibility, only when the public trusts and accepts it.
“We are proud to welcome Wayve, Nissan UK and Uber as the new PAVE UK members. Through this significant partnership, we will open the floor for two-way conversations with the public, bridging the communication gap between the technology and the general public. This demonstrates our collective commitment to enabling safer, publicly endorsed self-driving technology in the UK.”
Sarah Gates, Vice President, Global Affairs, Legal and Assurance, Wayve, said:
“Britain has been a pioneer in transport innovation for centuries, from powering the industrial revolution with canals and trains in the 18th Century, to the world’s first underground railway dating to the Victorian era. Alongside this, the UK has pioneered some of the most important road safety standards globally, including the first traffic light system.
“Introducing autonomous rides in London to the public later this year builds on Britain’s heritage for transport innovation. Getting it right matters and initiatives like PAVE UK are how the industry advances autonomy transparently—educating the public and building the trust that turns a new technology into something people rely on every day.”
David Moss, Senior Vice President, Research and Development, Nissan Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania (AMIEO)said:
“Nissan is leading the way in unlocking autonomous driving to shape a cleaner, safer and more accessible future. At our technical centre in the UK we are proud of our pioneering projects such as HumanDrive, ServCity and evolvAD that show the exciting real world potential of autonomous driving. Our partnership with PAVE UK is the next step, raising public engagement and trust so that people are ready to embrace this fantastic technology as it becomes reality.”
Alex Zelubowski, UK Head of Autonomous Mobility Operations, Uber:
“At Uber, safety is front and centre of everything we do. Communities and cities have to be part of the conversation from the start if we’re going to realise the long-term benefits of autonomous technology. This collaboration with PAVE UK is an important step in bringing AVs to London’s streets safely and responsibly.”
Note to editor
To work with PAVE UK, please email [email protected].
About PAVE UK
PAVE UK aims to bring the conversation about automated vehicles (AVs) to the public so that future users and technology developers can play a role in shaping our future.
By delivering education and engagement programmes around AVs, our goal is to increase the public’s awareness of the capabilities and limitations of the technology and build up societal acceptance and trust in this new transport innovation. We also aim to develop a correct user attitude to foster the safe deployment of AVs.
We strongly believe that by fully and transparently equipping the public with CAM technology knowledge, we could then achieve the potential benefits of the technology. To learn more, please visit www.paveuk.org.
About Wayve
Founded in 2017, Wayve is the leading developer of Embodied AI technology for automated driving. Its advanced AI software and foundation models for autonomy enable vehicles to perceive, understand, and navigate any environment, enhancing the usability and safety of autonomous driving systems. Wayve develops mapless and hardware-agnostic Embodied AI products for automakers and fleet owners, accelerating the path from assisted to automated driving. Backed by top investors like SoftBank Group, NVIDIA, Uber, and Eclipse Ventures, Wayve’s mission is to reimagine mobility with embodied intelligence. To learn more, please visit www.wayve.ai.
About Uber
Uber’s mission is to create opportunity through movement. We started in 2010 to solve a simple problem: how do you get access to a ride at the touch of a button? More than 47 billion trips later, we’re building products to get people closer to where they want to be. By changing how people, food, and things move through cities, Uber is a platform that opens up the world to new possibilities.
Press contact
Jonathan Smith, Head of Operations, PAVE UK
[email protected]
