Stellantis CEO says Wayve could cut assisted-driving costs and development time

Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa said in Turin on October 9 that the automaker’s partnership with British startup Wayve could reduce the cost and development time of advanced driver-assistance systems, making hands-free driving more affordable. His remarks accompanied vehicle demonstrations ahead of a targeted North American introduction in 2028; the savings remain an executive expectation.

Speaking alongside Wayve CEO Alex Kendall at the Wave technology event, Filosa put Stellantis’ current development timeline at around 24 months, Reuters reported. He identified shortening that period as a major benefit of working with technology partners, without giving a replacement timetable.

How Stellantis expects scale to reduce costs

Filosa’s economic argument depends on wider adoption. He said the automotive scale Stellantis brings to the partnership “will decrease costs, which is very important, obviously”. The claim was conditional on assisted-driving technology achieving the substantial market penetration he expects.

The Reuters report provides no numerical adoption forecast, development-budget figure or quantified saving. It also gives no customer price or subscription charge. The remarks therefore set out why Filosa expects the partnership to help, without establishing how much buyers might pay or how much Stellantis would save.

Fiat and Maserati join the demonstration lineup

At the Turin event, Stellantis and Wayve demonstrated hands-free driving in Fiat 500e and Maserati Grecale development vehicles. Reuters reported that these extended technology shown earlier in 2026 in a Jeep Grand Cherokee. The vehicles were prototypes, rather than evidence of a completed retail launch.

Kendall said Stellantis’ portfolio offered an opportunity to tailor driving characteristics to different vehicles while using the same underlying AI system. Reuters identified Jeep, Fiat, Peugeot and Maserati among the group’s brands. That combination of shared software and different vehicle characteristics forms part of the partnership’s proposed approach.

Wayve also works with Nissan and Mercedes, according to Reuters, and says its technology is designed for multiple brands and markets. Those relationships provide context for its shared-software strategy; the report does not establish identical products or launch schedules across the manufacturers.

What the May partnership already established

The companies announced their strategic technology partnership on May 21, with plans to integrate the Wayve AI Driver into Stellantis’ STLA AutoDrive platform. Their announcement targeted the first vehicle integration for North America in 2028, a target reiterated in Reuters’ October 9 reporting.

The agreement followed a strategic investment by Stellantis in Wayve. The May announcement described combining Wayve’s AI with Stellantis’ engineering and manufacturing scale. The new development in Turin is the executives’ account of the potential benefits and the broader demonstration lineup, rather than a newly signed partnership.

In May, Kendall said the teams had brought up a prototype in less than two months. That claim concerns prototype integration. It cannot be compared directly with Filosa’s roughly 24-month development baseline to calculate a saving across the full production-development cycle.

Hands-free driving still requires supervision

The companies describe the planned initial product as supervised, hands-free driving across urban roads and highways, using the terms Level 2++ and door-to-door. Those descriptions do not remove the driver’s responsibility to supervise the system or establish that occupants can leave the driving entirely to it.

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration explains that Level 2 assistance can continuously control both steering and acceleration or braking, while the driver remains fully engaged and attentive. That distinction matters when assessing what hands-free operation actually offers.

The agency distinguishes this from Level 3, where the system drives but a person must be available to take over on request, and Level 4, where occupants need not drive within limited operating areas. These definitions explain automation levels; they do not certify the Stellantis-Wayve product.

What remains unresolved before the 2028 target

The companies’ announcement and Reuters’ report do not identify the first retail model, an exact launch date or the supported operating conditions. The Turin demonstrations also do not establish independent safety performance, production readiness or regulatory approval for the planned integration.

Reuters reported that European regulators were still working to harmonise approval rules for sophisticated assisted-driving systems, without identifying a European approval date for this product. Stellantis has said its platform could evolve toward higher automation, subject to regulatory readiness and customer expectations; that remains an ambition rather than confirmation of an approved higher-level system.