Waymo is bringing its autonomous taxis to the UK in 2026, marking the company’s first major expansion outside of the US. Waymo has selected the mobility company, Moove, as its fleet operations partner, and is currently working with local and national authorities in the UK to gain the necessary permissions to launch a robotaxi service in London first next year.
Right now, you won’t find any fully driverless cars in London or anywhere in the UK, but that’s set to change next year when the Automated Vehicles Act 2024 begins to take effect. This legislation is intended to regulate the eventual arrival of self-driving vehicles in the UK, but before that can happen, the government will help to facilitate robotaxi pilots from Spring 2026.
Given its complex road network and narrow winding streets built long before cars were a concern, London will be a challenging city for Waymo’s robotaxis to navigate, but the company said in a statement that its technology significantly reduces the risk of injury-causing collisions with other vehicles and pedestrians compared to human-driven cars. The imminent arrival of Waymo in the UK was also welcomed by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), with self-driving taxis seen as an important first step in ushering in autonomous travel on a larger scale.
Waymo already has close links to the UK, with its first international engineering hubs located in London and Oxford. It also has a partnership with UK-based Jaguar Land Rover, which sees it equip all-electric Jaguar I-Pace taxis with its Waymo Driver self–driving tech in the US.
However, Waymo won’t be without competition when its service arrives in London next year. Uber and Wayve are planning for their own pilot to launch around the same time, after the latter’s CEO and co-founder, Alex Kendall, called the arrival of the Automated Vehicles Act “a defining moment for UK autonomy.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/waymo-plans-to-launch-fully-autonomous-taxi-service-in-london-next-year-142453250.html?src=rss
