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WeRide & Uber Join Forces To Launch Autonomous Rides In UAE
The partnership will first bring autonomous vehicles to Abu Dhabi, with Uber leveraging WeRide’s extensive robotaxi expertise.
Autonomous vehicle experts WeRide have partnered with Uber Technologies to form a strategic collaboration that will integrate the Chinese tech firm’s autonomous vehicles into Uber’s ride-hailing app, starting in the United Arab Emirates.
After revealing news of the partnership, Tony Han, founder and CEO of WeRide, said: “We are honored to partner with Uber to continue to bring our technology to global markets. Together, we aim to combine our collective experience and expertise to deliver much-needed, affordable, sustainable, and safe mobility solutions to a global audience”.
In addition, Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, added: “Uber is very excited to partner with WeRide. It’s clear that the future of mobility will be increasingly shared, electric, and autonomous, and we look forward to working with leading AV companies like WeRide to help bring the benefits of autonomous technology to cities around the world”.
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The results of the collaboration will hopefully be seen later this year in Abu Dhabi, where a select number of WeRide autonomous vehicles will make their debut for Uber rides across the Emirate. Once the service is live, users who request eligible trips through the Uber app may get the opportunity to travel in a WeRide autonomous vehicle for their journey. The trial scheme is currently limited to the UAE, with no immediate plans by either company for expansion to regions such as the United States or China.
WeRide already operates the largest fleet of robotaxis in the UAE, with its services accessible through the TXAI app. Moreover, in July 2023, the tech company received the UAE’s first national license for self-driving cars, which authorized the testing and operation of autonomous vehicles on public roads throughout the country.
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Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget
The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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