London travelers could be hiring driverless taxis from Waymo next year after the US-based autonomous vehicle company announced plans to launch their services in the city in 2026.
The city of London can expect to hire driverless taxis from the US company Waymo next year. Waymo made the announcement to launch its services in the UK capital, making it the first European city to have an autonomous taxi service that has become popular in US cities like San Francisco.
“Robotaxis” will now be joining London’s famous black cabs in terms of city transport. Representatives of London’s cab drivers stated they were not concerned about the implementation of what they’re calling a “fairground ride,” as they questioned the reliability of driverless vehicles in general.
Waymo stated that their cars would begin their travels in London in the coming weeks with “trained human specialists,” known as safety drivers, driving the vehicles.
Waymo was formed as a spin-off company from Google’s self-driving car program. They’ve been working to increase their operations and will be working closely with Transport for London and the Department for Transportto to obtain the proper permits to operate fully in 2026.
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander discussed her delight in Waymo’s plans to bring their cars to London.
“I’m delighted that Waymo intends to bring their services to London next year, under our proposed piloting scheme.”
“Boosting the AV [autonomous vehicle] sector will increase accessible transport options alongside bringing jobs, investment and opportunities to the UK. Cutting-edge investment like this will help us deliver our mission to be world leaders in new technology and spearhead national renewal,” Alexander said, according to the Guardian.
Both Uber and UK tech company Wayve have also announced their plans to trial driverless taxis in London next year. These announcements were made after the British government stated it would accelerate rules allowing public trials to take place before any legislation surrounding self-driving vehicles passes.
A larger rollout of self-driving taxis is set to be implemented in the UK after the Automated Vehicles Act takes effect in late 2027.
Steve McNamara, the general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association which represents black-cab drivers, said that this is a “fairground ride.”
“It’s a tourist attraction in San Francisco. Quite frequently one of them will lock up in the middle of a junction because it gets confused and the police have to come and park, wait for the Waymo man to get his laptop out and get it going again.”
McNamara said that London will be a large challenge for Waymo because of their irregular road system, and there wasn’t a large public interest in driverless taxis throughout the city.
“If there was demand for it, Nigel Farage would be saying get rid of immigrants, have driverless cars instead.”
“There’s no demand for it. Ride-hailing apps such as Uber and Lyft might welcome the technology because it would reduce the cost of hiring drivers.”
Waymo co-chief executive Tekedraa Mawakana said that the driverless taxi technology was “making roads safer and transportation more accessible. We’ve demonstrated how to responsibly scale fully autonomous ride-hailing, and we can’t wait to expand the benefits of our technology to the United Kingdom.”
Waymo initially launched their autonomous taxis in 2020, and currently has over 2,000 driverless vehicles. The company has stated they have completed trips for more than 10 million US passengers in the cities of San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Atlanta.
London would become the only European city where Waymo is operational if they receive approval from the central government and Transport for London.
There have been incidents with Waymo and their driverless taxis, however, the company has stated that the data showed cars driven by humans were involved in incidents that injured pedestrians 12 times more often than their vehicles.
Waymo’s cars use cameras, artificial intelligence, radar, and sensors that use lasers to measure distance in three dimensions known as lidar. Lidar creates a map of objects around the vehicle, including in the dark and weather conditions like rain, the Guardian reports.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
