Wayve, Stellantis and Nvidia Join the French Government in a Push to Deploy Autonomous Vehicles
London-based self-driving developer Wayve, carmaker Stellantis and chip designer Nvidia announced on October 23 a collaboration with the French government to prepare the deployment of autonomous vehicles in France and speed up the technology's development across the European Union. The plan was unveiled at the Assises du Véhicule Autonome in Paris, according to a joint statement published by Stellantis.
The technical set-up builds on existing ties between the partners. Stellantis brings its L4-Ready vehicle platforms along with its engineering and manufacturing experience, and Wayve contributes the Wayve AI Driver, an embodied AI system that will run Nvidia's Halos OS on the Nvidia Hyperion compute and sensor architecture. The partners present France as the anchor of an ecosystem spanning the whole autonomous-vehicle value chain, from semiconductors to finished cars, and point to the size of its ride-hailing market and the €109 billion of AI investment announced at the 2025 AI Action Summit in Paris.
Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said France is committed to adapting its regulatory framework to accelerate autonomous vehicles while keeping strict requirements on safety and data sovereignty, and described the aim as moving from experimentation to real-world deployment. Stellantis research executive Anne Laliron called France one of the group's main engineering hubs, while Kaity Fischer of Wayve said working directly with the government would help define how the technology can be deployed safely.
What it means in practice
No launch city, timetable or fleet size was announced, so this is a framework rather than a service. One notable element is social: dialogue with trade unions, local authorities and mobility operators will be led by the local partners that run transport services, with the stated goal of making sure the shift benefits workers, regions and passengers. That matters in a country where taxi and ride-hailing drivers have often mobilised against new entrants.
The announcement adds to a busy month for driving AI in France after Valeo and KE:SAI launched an open-source Franco-German self-driving project, and it extends Nvidia's growing footprint in the country following its planned stakes in Doctolib, Genesis AI, Entalpic and Pigment.
What to watch: which regulatory changes the government proposes, which French cities or operators sign up as local partners, and when the first vehicles carry passengers on public roads.