London's Robotaxi Debut
Uber and Wayve Set to Launch Autonomous Taxi Service in London This Summer
Anonymous
Uber and Britain’s Wayve have launched a public interest list in the Uber app for Londoners to be matched with autonomous taxi rides in the coming months, with rides initially offered exclusively to Uber customers. The service is expected to begin following final regulatory clearance under the UK’s automated vehicle framework that enabled the Department for Transport’s commercial pilot application process, and at launch the vehicles will run with a licensed human operator behind the wheel rather than fully driverless operation. Wayve’s “mapless” embodied AI approach, using cameras, radar, and onboard computing, is designed to handle London’s complex road conditions, and the company says it has been trialing the technology in the city since 2018. Passengers matched to an autonomous vehicle will use all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E rides with 360-degree sensing and will face no additional cost compared with a conventional Uber trip, with riders able to decline the autonomous option. The rollout would make Wayve the first firm to offer commercial robotaxis in Europe, setting up competition in Britain with Google-parent Waymo and China’s Baidu, though fully driverless timelines remain unspecified. Wayve says London is the first commercial test city and plans rapid expansion afterward, including Tokyo and additional cities in partnership with Uber.
Key Points
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Uber says autonomous rides will be offered specifically through UberX, Uber Electric and Uber Comfort, with no extra cost—and the Mach-E vehicles will include interactive screens “designed by Uber,” offering ride controls plus “route visibility” and support.
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Wayve’s technology stack for the robotaxis uses “six cameras,” along with radar and an “AI-powered computer in the boot” that controls how the vehicle responds.
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Wayve CEO Alex Kendall said the experience will be “smooth and confident,” describing how the Wayve AI Driver can handle “tricky scenarios on the fly” and execute pickups/dropoffs, including trips “from our King’s Cross HQ to Heathrow.”
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Wayve executive Kaity Fischer framed London as a uniquely demanding test environment, saying it has “20 times more roadworks” and “10 times more vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists,” plus “2,000-year-old streets” with “potholes and cobblestone paths.”
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