At the Wave by Vento 2026 technology conference in Turin (7–9 October), Stellantis and Wayve showed how artificial intelligence can turn an ordinary car into an assistant that gets you to your destination door to door. The car takes over the driving, but the person does not drop out of the process: they still keep an eye on the road and must be ready to take back control at any moment.
On site there were prototypes of the Fiat 500e and Maserati Grecale with the Wayve AI Driver system built into the STLA AutoDrive platform. The system works both in the city and on the highway. The companies report that the cars went from integration to road testing in less than four weeks, and conference guests were offered demonstration rides.
The key feature is an approach built primarily on cameras. The system relies on end-to-end AI and does not require detailed HD maps; radars complement the cameras, and if necessary a lidar can be added to the architecture. According to the participants, this scheme costs the manufacturer less than a setup based on expensive sensors.
Formally, this is not Level 3. Stellantis calls the system Level 2++, but on the five-level autonomy scale it remains the second level. The difference is fundamental: at Level 3, under certain conditions the system itself controls the driving, whereas here its task is to noticeably reduce the driver's workload in everyday driving without relieving them of responsibility.
The journey began in May 2026: that was when the partnership was announced, and at Stellantis's investor day a Jeep Grand Cherokee prototype with the same AI core was shown. The teams then transferred the technology to Fiat and Maserati. Kendall, co-founder and CEO of Wayve, said the engineers assembled the first working prototype in less than two months. That speed matters for Stellantis: CEO Antonio Filosa noted that the development cycle for driver-assistance systems at the company currently takes about 24 months, and external technology partners help shorten it.
Interestingly, the same AI foundation is capable of taking each brand's character into account. Stellantis's portfolio includes Jeep, Fiat, Peugeot and Maserati, and Kendall sees this as an opportunity to tune the car's behaviour to the brand without creating a separate system for each one. In Turin he added that the system was also adjusted for the Italian driving style.
Wayve also works with other automakers, among them Nissan and Mercedes-Benz. Overall, the industry is increasingly moving away from developing autonomous systems entirely in-house in favour of specialised technology firms: autonomous driving programmes are getting more expensive, and their payback is slower than expected.
Stellantis plans to release its first production car with this technology in 2028, starting with North America. Fully driverless cars from the company have not yet been announced: both sides are considering such a possibility, but for now the priority is controlled driver assistance.
The bottom line is simple: real progress in autonomous driving today does not look like promises of robotaxis, but like a gradual yet tangible easing of the routine behind the wheel. It is precisely this practicality that is becoming the main bet of Stellantis and Wayve.
