Waymo Plans To Launch Fully Autonomous Taxi Service In London Next Year

Waymo is bringing its autonomous taxis to nan UK successful 2026, marking nan company’s first awesome description extracurricular of nan US. Waymo has selected nan mobility company, Moove, arsenic its fleet operations partner, and is presently moving pinch section and nationalist authorities successful nan UK to summation nan basal permissions to motorboat a robotaxi work successful London first adjacent year.

Right now, you won’t find immoderate afloat driverless cars successful London aliases anyplace successful nan UK, but that’s group to alteration adjacent twelvemonth erstwhile nan Automated Vehicles Act 2024 originates to return effect. This authorities is intended to modulate nan eventual presence of self-driving vehicles successful nan UK, but earlier that tin happen, nan authorities will help to facilitate robotaxi pilots from Spring 2026.

Given its analyzable roadworthy web and constrictive winding streets built agelong earlier cars were a concern, London will beryllium a challenging metropolis for Waymo’s robotaxis to navigate, but nan institution said successful a statement that its exertion importantly reduces nan consequence of injury-causing collisions pinch different vehicles and pedestrians compared to human-driven cars. The imminent presence of Waymo successful nan UK was besides welcomed by nan Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), pinch self-driving taxis seen arsenic an important first measurement successful ushering successful autonomous recreation connected a larger scale.

Waymo already has adjacent links to nan UK, pinch its first world engineering hubs located successful London and Oxford. It besides has a business pinch UK-based Jaguar Land Rover, which sees it equip all-electric Jaguar I-Pace taxis pinch its Waymo Driver self–driving tech successful nan US.

However, Waymo won't beryllium without title erstwhile its work arrives successful London adjacent year. Uber and Wayve are planning for their ain aviator to motorboat astir nan aforesaid time, aft nan latter’s CEO and co-founder, Alex Kendall, called nan presence of nan Automated Vehicles Act "a defining infinitesimal for UK autonomy."