{"id":725525,"date":"2026-01-28T03:30:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T03:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/725525\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T03:30:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T03:30:27","slug":"waymo-moves-closer-to-london-launch-as-u-s-safety-scrutiny-intensifies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/725525\/","title":{"rendered":"Waymo Moves Closer to London Launch as U.S. Safety Scrutiny Intensifies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Waymo is stepping up preparations for its UK rollout after its driverless vehicles were spotted on the streets of London, as the Alphabet-owned firm faces safety scrutiny in the US.<\/p>\n<p>The self-driving vehicle firm has confirmed it is testing its robotaxis in the capital ahead of a planned passenger launch this year, marking its second international market after Japan.<\/p>\n<p>This move comes as Waymo expands its paid, fully driverless ride-hailing service in the US, most recently launching in Miami.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Roughnecks-Riches-Start-Up-American-Fracking\/dp\/B0FCDBHGSW\" class=\"charts_banner_clicked charts_banner_add_view\" data-banner_id=\"38\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"not_lightbox\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/book.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Miami rollout makes Waymo the first operator to run commercial robotaxis in six cities across the pond.<\/p>\n<p>The service is initially limited to a 60-square mile area, and is supported by fleet operations partner Moove, which manages the charging and cleaning of the vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>Close to 10,000 Miami residents have already signed up to use the service, which has been rolled out on an invitation basis.<\/p>\n<p><strong>US scrutiny shadows UK expansion<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Waymo\u2019s push into London comes as US regulators examine incidents in Austin, Texas, where its vehicles were found to have illegally passed stopped school buses.<\/p>\n<p>The National Transportation Safety Board, as well as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, have opened probes.<\/p>\n<p>Waymo responded by rolling out a software update across more than 3,000 vehicles to address the issue, without taking the cars off the road.<\/p>\n<p>The company said no collisions happened and claimed its autonomous system still performs better than human drivers, though officials in Austin have called for tighter restrictions.<\/p>\n<p>The investigation is likely to sharpen attention <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cityam.com\/waymos-black-mirror-moment-raises-questions-for-london-launch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in the UK<\/a>, where the sighting of Waymo\u2019s vehicles in London has proved how close the firm is to a commercial launch.<\/p>\n<p>Government ministers have backed autonomous vehicle trials as a way to improve transport accessibility and attract investment.<\/p>\n<p>Waymo has logged over 100 million miles and completed around 14 million paid rides globally, giving it a clear lead in commercial robotaxis.<\/p>\n<p>But as it moves closer to London\u2019s streets, the outcome of US safety probes may play a decisive role in shaping regulatory confidence in its British debut.<\/p>\n<p>By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cityam.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CityAM<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>More Top Reads From Oilprice.com<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Waymo is stepping up preparations for its UK rollout after its driverless vehicles were spotted on the streets&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[3836,60790,748,393,4884,257,119,117655,197513,89216,216099,16,15,33026],"class_list":{"0":"post-725525","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-alphabet","9":"tag-autonomous-vehicles","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-london","14":"tag-miami","15":"tag-robotaxis","16":"tag-self-driving-cars","17":"tag-transport-policy","18":"tag-u-s-regulators","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-waymo"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115970613112561698","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}