![\"Londoners](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/153dada17c8d096439b952c79d9f4008.jpeg\")
Londoners will be able to start taking robotaxis this summer, though initially with human operators on board for safety (Ben STANSALL) \u00b7 Ben STANSALL\/AFP\/AFP <\/p>\n Londoners will be able to start taking robotaxis this summer, though initially with human operators on board for safety (Ben STANSALL) \u00b7 Ben STANSALL\/AFP\/AFP <\/p>\n
Bristling with sensors and electronic eyes, robotaxis are appearing on London’s streets, slipping silently between red buses and black cabs, as companies battle to lead Europe’s emerging autonomous vehicle market.<\/p>\n
British start-up Wayve, in partnership with Uber, is racing to beat US rival Waymo, owned by Google-parent Alphabet.<\/p>\n
China’s Baidu is also to launch in the British capital, where winding streets, roadworks and pedestrian traffic bring unique challenges.<\/p>\n
“London has 20 times the amount of road construction than San Francisco and 10 times the amount of vulnerable road users,” said Kaity Fischer, head of business development at Wayve.<\/p>\n
“We’ve had 2,000-year-old roads, certainly no perfect grid system,” she told AFP ahead of a ride in the company’s Ford Mustang Mach-E.<\/p>\n
On the road, every pedestrian and intersection presents a test. The car responded smoothly though, braking where necessary.<\/p>\n
Passengers tend to spend the first few minutes of the ride “marvelling, videoing the steering wheel moving on its own, taking selfies”, Fischer said.<\/p>\n
Then “about three minutes in, they’re doing the exact same thing that they do in any other Uber or ride hail — they’re looking at their phone”, she added.<\/p>\n
Britain stands ahead of the European Union in the race to getting driverless cars on the road, thanks to government efforts to speed up regulation.<\/p>\n
The Labour government expects the autonomous vehicle sector to generate 38,000 jobs and \u00a342 billion ($55 billion) by 2035.<\/p>\n
– Backlash –<\/p>\n
Londoners will be able to take their first commercial rides with Wayve this summer, with a human operator on board in the initial stages.<\/p>\n
Waymo, already operating in 11 US cities using pre-mapped routes, could follow shortly after.<\/p>\n
The sector’s complexity means that companies competing in one city may collaborate in another, with one providing the technology and the other managing the fleet and commercial rollout.<\/p>\n
Baidu, in partnership with ride-sharing firm Lyft, will be testing “in the coming weeks” ahead of launching in London later this year, said Jeremy Bird, Lyft’s head of global growth.<\/p>\n
At its launch, fares are likely to be “pretty similar” to traditional taxis, he told AFP.<\/p>\n
Companies are under pressure to get the public on side, after a series of high-profile mishaps.<\/p>\n
This year, a string of Baidu vehicles stalled in central China leaving passengers stranded.<\/p>\n
Waymo had to recall nearly 4,000 cars after several incidents in which its robotaxis entering closed-off highway construction areas.<\/p>\n
“Robotaxi players know they are just one bad accident away from getting serious pushback,” McKinsey transport specialist Philipp Kampshoff told AFP.<\/p>\n
“So you have to make sure safety is your absolute priority.”<\/p>\n
– ‘Tourist attraction’ –<\/p>\n
Waymo product director Saswat Panigrahi has offered assurances that its cars record 13 times fewer serious accidents than human drivers.<\/p>\n
The system’s AI technology is “powerful enough” to detect tiny movements that indicate a pedestrian is about to walk across the road, he said at the South by Southwest tech festival in London.<\/p>\n
But for Steve McNamara, head of London’s taxi association, robotaxis are just “a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist”.<\/p>\n
“They are pumping millions and millions of dollars into PR, into spin, into marketing, into convincing politicians, into convincing people that this is a great thing,” McNamara told AFP.<\/p>\n
London’s taxi industry is still recovering from the rise of Uber, which reduced the number of its vehicles on the road to 14,800 in 2024 from 22,300 in 2009.<\/p>\n
McNamara said robotaxis will ultimately become “a tourist attraction”, adding that autonomous vehicles tend to wait until roads are completely clear before pulling out.<\/p>\n
“There’s parts of London where it would be sitting there until Christmas Day, if you’re waiting for the road to be clear.”<\/p>\n
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