TOKYO, March 12 (Reuters) - Nissan Motor ( NSANF ), Uber

Technologies ( UBER ) and British startup Wayve said on Thursday

they will collaborate on developing robotaxis, aiming to roll

out a pilot programme in Tokyo by late 2026.

Uber's ( UBER ) first autonomous vehicle partnership in Japan, the

plan provides for Nissan Leaf electric vehicles equipped with

Wayve's self-driving technology to be made available to

customers via Uber ( UBER ), the companies said in a joint statement.

"We have been testing our technology throughout Japan since

early 2025," Wayve CEO Alex Kendall said in the statement.

"Partnering with Uber ( UBER ) and Nissan ( NSANF ) to begin pilot deployment

of Robotaxis allows us to introduce this technology in a

responsible way."

The vehicles will operate on Uber's ( UBER ) platform in the initial

phase, with a trained safety driver in the cars. Uber ( UBER ) plans to

launch the service through a licensed taxi partner in Japan.

Wayve, backed by SoftBank and Nvidia ( NVDA ),

partnered with Uber ( UBER ) in August 2024. The two companies aim to

launch services in more than 10 cities worldwide, including

London later this year.

Last September, Nissan ( NSANF ) said it had begun testing a

driver-assistance system using Wayve's technology, ahead of a

planned launch in Japan in financial year 2027.