Spain gives WeRide and Uber its first permit for Level 4 self-driving cars

WeRide, Uber and AVOMO have received Spain’s first national permit for Level 4 autonomous passenger vehicles on public roads, the three companies announced on Thursday. Spain’s Directorate General of Traffic (DGT) issued it under its ES-AV framework for autonomous vehicles. Reuters also reported the permit.

AVOMO is the autonomous vehicle division of the Moove Cars Group. The companies worked with the Regional Government of Madrid.

What the permit allows

The permit covers testing of WeRide’s GXR autonomous vehicles in Spain. It lets the companies begin mapping, route validation and operational readiness testing in the Madrid region.

The first phase will use 20 vehicles. Each will carry an in-car vehicle specialist to supervise it. The cars will run in high-demand areas of Greater Madrid.

Commercial operations are expected to begin by the end of 2026, according to the announcement. That depends on the companies completing their deployment preparations and reaching the required operational and regulatory milestones.

The companies said it is the first national approval in the EU for WeRide’s GXR vehicle. It is WeRide’s ninth autonomous driving permit worldwide, said Jennifer Li, the company’s chief financial officer and head of international.

Madrid in the WeRide and Uber plan

Madrid will be the first planned autonomous vehicle deployment in Europe for Uber and WeRide. TNW reported in June that the two companies were taking their robotaxi partnership to Madrid.

It is the fourth of 15 cities under their strategic partnership, with 11 more planned by 2030. Under that partnership, the companies plan to put tens of thousands of autonomous vehicles on public roads.

WeRide provides the driving technology, Uber the ride-hailing platform and AVOMO the fleet operations. AVOMO runs autonomous fleets in Austin and Atlanta, with around 400 vehicles and more than 200 specialists. Moove, the group AVOMO belongs to, raised $250m at a $2.1bn valuation in August to run robotaxi fleets.

What the companies said

“The Madrid region is a key gateway for our European expansion,” Li said. Uber’s global head of autonomous mobility and delivery, Sarfraz Maredia, said the permit “marks an important milestone in bringing autonomous mobility from planning into real-world deployment.”

Manuel Puga, chief executive of Moove Cars Group, said: “Every successful autonomous vehicle deployment begins long before the first commercial ride.”

Robotaxis elsewhere in Europe

WeRide said its business now spans more than 60 cities in 13 countries. In August it entered Denmark, its first Nordic market, with a 2027 robotaxi plan.

Europe’s first commercial robotaxi service went live in Zagreb in April, TNW reported. That month, the Netherlands became the first European country to approve Tesla’s FSD Supervised.