Mercedes-Benz is to integrate Wayve’s automated driving technology into future models within the next two years.
A definitive production agreement announced today will see the German automaker fit the Wayve AI Driver into its upcoming vehicles to enable what the companies call “advanced urban and highway point-to-point driving assistance”.
The deal comes after Mercedes participated in Wayve’s $1.2 billion Series D funding round earlier this year alongside global automakers Nissan and Stellantis. It also counts Wayve’s third production deal for consumer cars in nine months.
“This partnership marks the world’s first integration of the Wayve AI Driver in the premium segment, expanding the availability of advanced urban and highway point-to-point driving assistance,” said Jörg Burzer, Chief Technology Officer of Mercedes-Benz.
“Together with Wayve, we are laying the foundation to roll out this technology worldwide and deliver an outstanding driving experience to a broader range of customers.”
The details have been left vague with no mention of which Mercedes model will receive the AI Driver, no specified driving automation level or first markets and no detailed timeline beyond “in the next two years”.
Crucially, though, it’s notably different from the robotaxi partnerships that have put Wayve in the headlines alongside Uber, Nissan and Stellantis. With Mercedes, Wayve’s technology will be scaled across vehicles for private customers, rather than deployed as part of a driverless ride-hailing fleet.
Mercedes already develops automated driving technology itself, with its L3 Drive Pilot system commercially available on its S-Class and EQS models. Wayve takes a different technical approach. Its AI Driver is designed to operate without high-definition maps, using what the company describes as “embodied AI” trained on driving data rather than relying on extensive location-specific engineering.
Wayve licenses the technology to vehicle manufacturers and fleet operators and says its AI Driver can support a range of applications from advanced driver assistance through to fully driverless vehicles.
The details remain sparse and Zag will be investigating what the Mercedes deployment will look like in practice. But the agreement points to an increasingly relevant route for Wayve to scale automated driving beyond robotaxis, embedding its technology directly into cars sold to private customers.
