Mercedes to Integrate Wayve AI Driver into Vehicles by 2028

Mercedes-Benz and autonomous driving startup Wayve have signed a definitive production agreement to integrate the Wayve AI Driver into future Mercedes vehicles, the companies announced on 22 September 2026. The firms say the system has already been tested within Mercedes-Benz's production software architecture and will be offered as a turnkey option for advanced urban point-to-point driving assistance within the next two years.

The Wayve AI Driver is already integrated with Mercedes-Benz vehicle hardware, the MB.OS operating system, and the carmaker's map interfaces.

How this fits with Mercedes-Benz's existing autonomy work

The agreement comes as Mercedes continues to broaden its autonomy strategy. The company recently demonstrated a point-to-point system built on Nvidia's Alpamayo running on a CLA, and Alpamayo remains part of Mercedes' roadmap. At the same time, Mercedes has publicly acknowledged limits to rules-based Level 3 systems after certifying what was the first Level 3 offering in the US and later discontinuing it. Partnering with Wayve gives Mercedes an additional, AI-first option that the company expects to scale more cost effectively.

Wayve describes its AV2.0 technology as an end-to-end, primarily vision-based system that does not require high-definition maps, geofences, or city-by-city retraining. The startup also uses radar sensors for redundancy. Mercedes and Wayve have not assigned a specific SAE level to the integrated system. Based on Wayve's commercial work with Uber, observers note the technology could resemble a Level 2-plus configuration that requires continuous driver supervision, but that characterization has not been confirmed by either company.

The partnership has already produced practical results. Wayve said its software runs on Mercedes-Benz's existing hardware and MB.OS, using the carmaker's map interfaces. Wayve announced the deal via a social post stating the companies had signed a definitive production agreement to bring the Wayve AI Driver to Mercedes vehicles.

Wayve is in active commercial deployments elsewhere. The London-based startup recently signed a deal with Uber to begin autonomous rides across most of London, excluding airports; those services operate with a safety driver present. Mercedes was among investors in Wayve's recent $1.2 billion Series D funding round, and other automakers including Stellantis and Nissan are also investors and plan to use Wayve technology.