Waymo, the Alphabet-owned autonomous vehicle developer, plans to begin testing in London within weeks and is working towards offering fully driverless ride-hailing under the UK government’s proposed piloting scheme from 2026.
The British capital will be Waymo’s first European city. The company currently operates paid services in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin and Atlanta, with announced US expansions to Dallas, Miami, Washington DC and Nashville. Reporting more than ten million paid rides since 2020, Waymo says its cars have driven over 100 million fully autonomous miles in the US.
“Boosting the autonomous vehicle sector will increase accessible transport options alongside bringing jobs, investment, and opportunities to the UK,” said Heidi Alexander, secretary of state for transport. “Cutting-edge investment like this will help us deliver our mission to be world leaders in new technology and spearhead national renewal.” Waymo said it will “work closely with the Department for Transport and Transport for London to obtain the necessary permissions to offer fully autonomous rides in 2026,” according to the Guardian.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders welcomed the move. “The anticipated arrival of self-driving cars in London next year is a landmark moment,” said Mike Hawes, chief executive, SMMT. “With the right legislation in place, we will be well-positioned to unlock the benefits of automated vehicles – safer roads, high-quality job creation, more efficient logistics, and economic growth.”
Waymo’s co-chief executive Tekedra Mawakana framed the UK as a natural next step. “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,” she said. Early operations will feature trained safety drivers as vehicles map and train its virtual driver across a 100-square-mile area.
London presents a distinct technical challenge. Waymo told Wired it will apply “the same rigorous approach to testing and deploying in London as we have in other cities,” citing experience in Tokyo, where it is collecting data with local partners. Critics remain cautious. Missy Cummings, professor of robotics and autonomy at George Mason University, questioned “how generalisable” US-trained computer vision systems are to UK roads, saying, “I don’t know. I can’t tell you for sure, but my suspicion is not very.”
Black cab representatives have voiced scepticism about driverless services. Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association, described robotaxis as “a novelty” and “a gimmick,” adding he was “certainly not concerned at the moment” and questioning whether Londoners would trust them “let alone put their kids in one to go to school” in comments to Sky News. In a separate interview with London Centric, McNamara said Waymo’s announcements were “headline‑catching,” noted early vehicles would still have a human in the seat, and argued, “I don’t think the demand is there,” forecasting potential issues “in 10 to 15 years time,” but not “any time soon”.
Competition is expected. Wayve has announced plans to work with Uber on robotaxis in London, and the government has signalled pilots for small numbers of services from 2026, with wider rollout expected after the Automated Vehicles Act fully takes effect in late 2027.
