Mercedes-Benz and Wayve signed a definitive production agreement on September 22, 2026, setting out plans to bring the British startup’s AI Driver into future Mercedes vehicles within the next two years. The system is intended to provide advanced point-to-point driving assistance in urban areas and on highways, marking Wayve’s first integration in the premium vehicle segment.
Point-to-point assistance can guide a vehicle over a complete route, taking charge of steering, navigation and responses to traffic. The driver must remain under continuous active monitoring. Mercedes-Benz has not identified the models that will receive the system, the markets where it will arrive first, a launch date or a formal automation classification.
The agreement extends a multi-year technical partnership between the companies. Wayve said it has integrated its AI Driver with Mercedes-Benz’s production system architecture, including the carmaker’s hardware, MB.OS operating system and map interfaces. Mercedes-Benz intends to offer the technology in markets worldwide, though the rollout sequence remains unspecified.
Wayve’s approach differs from systems that rely on high-definition maps to operate in defined areas. The company says its AI Driver learns to drive without HD maps and is designed to work in new cities and driving environments without geofences or city-specific retraining. Its system is trained on NVIDIA AI Infrastructure hosted on Microsoft Azure.
Mercedes-Benz had already made a strategic investment in Wayve’s Series D funding round earlier in 2026. Wayve raised $1.2 billion on February 25, 2026, giving it a post-money valuation of $8.6 billion. Microsoft, Nvidia, Uber, Nissan and Stellantis also invested in that round. Across 8 funding rounds, Wayve has raised a total of $2.5B.
Wayve was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in London. Nissan and Stellantis have each signed partnership deals with the company, adding to a group of carmakers backing its technology through investments and production arrangements. The company also plans commercial robotaxi trials with Uber starting in London in 2026.
Alex Kendall, Wayve’s Co-founder and CEO, and Jörg Burzer, Chief Technology Officer of Mercedes-Benz, are the senior executives identified with the partnership. The companies have disclosed the planned driving-assistance capabilities and the broad timetable, while leaving open questions on pricing, availability, performance data and whether the feature will be standard equipment, optional or dependent on market.
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