Waymo, an American firm offering autonomous vehicles, has announced that it will start availing driverless taxis in London next year. This move will make London the first city in Europe to have robotaxis on its roads.
Under the company’s plan, the autonomous vehicles will have safety drivers or “trained human specialists” in the driver’s seat. This initial launch will be a pilot scheme as the company awaits the country’s passing of the Automated Vehicle Act, expected to take effect towards the end of 2027.
The robotaxis are expected to compete with the black cabs that have for long dominated ride hailing in the city and trace their history back to the days when horse-drawn coaches were the de facto means of public transport centuries ago.
As is expected of any new technology, the robotaxis have been dismissed by operators of the black cabs. They have even referred to them as “fairground rides.” However, these driverless taxis have an established presence in several U.S. cities including San Francisco, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Phoenix. They are also widely used in China.
Waymo, which started operating in the U.S. in 2020, now has about 2,000 robotaxis. The company plans to establish its presence in other cities in Europe, and the London launch will be the first step it takes to actualize its expansion into Europe.
Despite alarming incidents involving driverless vehicles, Waymo is quick to point out that vehicles driven by humans caused pedestrian injuries 12 times more in comparison to Waymo robotaxis, so the driverless vehicles had a better safety record. This record is set to become even better as the technology is constantly being improved as more data from the field becomes available.
Robotaxis owned by Waymo rely on cameras, lidar, radar and AI to map everything around the car, and these technologies help the vehicles to have a keen awareness of everything around them regardless of weather conditions. Waymo is owned by Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, YouTube, DeepMind and others.
Other firms that have revealed their intention to run trials of self-driving vehicles in London in 2026 include Uber and Wayve, a tech company based in the UK. These revelations come after the government in Britain promised to fast-track rules intended to facilitate robotaxi trials to be undertaken while more comprehensive regulations are passed and enacted by the government.
Self-driving vehicles could transform the transport industry worldwide given the number of companies that are investing in this technology. One such notable firm is Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA), which is conducting its own trials of robotaxis in the U.S. as a prerequisite for getting regulatory approval before these vehicles are put into service and rolled out.
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