Uber and the British-based autonomous-driving startup Wayve are preparing to launch what could be the United Kingdom’s first public robotaxi service, with a waitlist for London riders interested in using the service once regulators grant final approval.Beginning this week, Uber users in London can sign up for a chance to ride in autonomous Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicles equipped with Wayve’s self-driving technology. The service is expected to launch in the coming months, initially with trained safety operators behind the wheel while the technology is monitored on public roads.The service would mark a milestone for autonomous mobility in Europe, where deployment has been sluggish, lagging behind the pace of approval set by United States and China. Robotaxi services already operate in several US cities including San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles.“This is the first time the general public will be able to hail an autonomous vehicle in the UK,” Kaity Fischer, Wayve’s vice president of commercial and operations, told Reuters.A car from British autonomous driving technology company Wayve is pictured driving around London earlier this week.The first cohort will be limited to a small fleet operating in selected parts of London. Riders matched with an autonomous vehicle will have the option of accepting the trip or switching to a conventional Uber ride, and Uber said fares will be the same as standard trips.Wayve’s technology relies on artificial intelligence, cameras, and radar sensors to navigate city streets. The company has been testing autonomous vehicles in London since 2018 and says its system has been trained to navigate the London’s complex traffic environment, including buses, cyclists, and heavy pedestrian activity.The service does still require approval from local authorities before it’s officially fully deployed, including from Transport for London. Current UK regulations do not allow for fully driverless commercial ride-hailing operations, meaning safety drivers will remain onboard initially, though that should start to change as the UK’s Automated Vehicles Act comes online.Inside a car from Wayve driving in London.The Uber-Wayve collab will face competition almost out of the gates, however, as Waymo is also testing vehicles in London and plans to launch commercial operations in the city soon. Uber is also about to begin testing Chinese-based Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxis in the city.Meanwhile in the States, Tesla said it is expanding its unsupervised robotaxi service across the Austin metro area in Texas, where the company operates roughly 50 vehicles. By comparison, Waymo has more than 250 robotaxis operating in the Austin market, underscoring the increasingly crowded battle to define the future of autonomous transportation.
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