Stellantis Partners with Wayve to Bring Self-Driving Features to 90% of Its Cars by 2028

Stellantis, one of the world's largest car manufacturers, and Wayve, a British artificial intelligence startup, announced they are partnering to add automated driving software to Stellantis vehicles starting in 2028. The deal will integrate Wayve's AI technology across the vast majority of Stellantis' vehicle lineup—including brands like Jeep, Ram, Peugeot, Citroën, and Fiat—making it one of the most extensive commitments to self-driving technology from a major automaker.

The technology is called Level 2++, which means the car can handle steering, acceleration, and braking on its own for extended stretches, including on highways and in cities. The driver still needs to pay attention and be ready to take over if needed. Think of it as a more capable version of lane-keeping and adaptive cruise control that already exist in many modern cars today.

How the Technology Works

Wayve's approach relies on artificial neural networks—software inspired by how brains learn—trained on real-world driving data. Rather than relying on pre-programmed rules or detailed maps of every road, the system uses cameras and other sensors to understand what's happening around the car and make driving decisions on the fly. This approach means the software can adapt to new places without needing a human to map them first.

The technology will be built into Stellantis' STLA AutoDrive platform, a common software foundation that will work across all those different car brands. Level 2++ sits in a middle ground: more capable than the driver-assistance systems in today's cars, but still requiring human oversight—unlike fully autonomous vehicles that need no driver.

The partnership allows for upgrades to higher automation levels down the road, though neither company has announced specific dates for those advances.

Wayve's Growing Reach

This is Wayve's third major car company partnership. The startup already works with Nissan and Mercedes-Benz, and recently signed a deal with Uber to deploy self-driving vehicles on the Uber network. The company has also set up a testing facility in Stuttgart, Germany, where it's validating its technology across different European driving conditions.

The Stellantis deal is significant because Wayve is essentially betting that its learning-based approach will beat out competitors like Tesla's Full Self-Driving system or General Motors' Super Cruise. By working with one of the world's largest automakers, Wayve gets access to manufacturing expertise and global distribution—something a startup alone cannot easily achieve.

Why This Matters Now

The broader context here is worth explaining. Automakers face mounting pressure to add sophisticated driving features, and many have concluded that partnering with specialized AI companies is faster than building it all in-house. We have seen this pattern before—when Ford partnered with Microsoft on vehicle software in the early 2000s, or when GM invested heavily in OnStar. The companies that succeeded were those that committed to long-term technical partnerships rather than one-off licensing deals.

Stellantis' decision to integrate Wayve across 90 percent of its vehicles by 2028 signals confidence in the technology and sets a realistic timeline for validation, regulatory approval, and manufacturing setup. The year 2028 is far enough away to test thoroughly but soon enough to stay competitive.

The Practical Challenges Ahead

Rolling out Level 2++ capabilities globally won't be simple. Different countries have different rules about self-driving cars. European regulators tend to be more welcoming of these features than regulators in the United States. And the technology itself demands constant vigilance: the car must detect pedestrians, construction zones, emergency vehicles, and unpredictable behavior at traffic lights or in crowded city streets.

The system also needs robust driver monitoring—cameras or sensors that watch whether the human is actually paying attention. If the car encounters a situation it cannot handle, it must safely hand control back to the driver, which is far trickier in urban environments than on highways where fewer surprises occur.

Liability is another open question. If the system makes a mistake, whose fault is it—the driver, the automaker, or the software company? Different jurisdictions are still writing the rules, and Stellantis will need to navigate those carefully.

What Each Side Gets Out of This

For Stellantis, the Wayve partnership avoids the massive research and development costs of building advanced AI driving software from scratch. The company can focus on what it does best: designing vehicles, manufacturing them, and selling them to customers.

For Wayve, partnering with Stellantis opens doors that a small startup cannot open alone. Getting regulatory approval, establishing manufacturing relationships, and gaining access to global markets are immensely difficult for independent companies. Stellantis provides all of that. Success with Stellantis also proves to other automakers that Wayve's technology works at scale, which could lead to more partnerships.

The dual commitment to both Stellantis personal vehicles and the Uber ride-sharing network also hints at a longer play: as automation improves, the same technology could eventually power self-driving taxis on the Uber network using Stellantis-built cars—though that remains several years and significant regulatory hurdles away.

In my view, this partnership exemplifies a measured approach to automated driving compared to some of the more ambitious timelines we've heard from competitors over the years. Whether Wayve can actually deliver across Stellantis' complex global markets, with all their different regulations and road conditions, will determine whether this becomes a template for the industry or a one-off success story.