Waymo's Robotaxis Are Coming To London

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: People in London could be hiring driverless taxis from Waymo next year, after the US autonomous vehicle company announced plans to launch its services there. The UK capital will become the first European city to have an autonomous taxi service of the kind now familiar in San Francisco and four other US cities using Waymo's technology.

The launch pits an innovation sometimes dubbed the 'robotaxi' against London's famous black cabs, which can trace their history back to the first horse-drawn hackney coaches of the Tudor era. But a representative of the capital's cab drivers said they were not concerned by the arrival of a 'fairground ride' and questioned the reliability of driverless vehicles. Waymo said its cars were now on their way to London and would start driving on the capital's streets in the coming weeks with 'trained human specialists,' or safety drivers, behind the wheel.

The company, originally formed as a spin-off from Google's self-driving car program, said it would scale up operations and work closely with Transport for London and the Department for Transportto obtain the permits needed to offer fully autonomous rides in 2026. Uber and the UK tech company Wayve have also announced their own plans to trial their driverless taxis in the capital next year, after the British government said it would accelerate rules allowing public trials to take place before legislation enabling self-driving vehicles passes in full.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.