Waymo's robotaxis coming to London in 2026
In the USA, thousands of passengers use Waymo's autonomous taxis every day. In 2026, the autonomous Jaguars will chauffeur passengers through London.
Waymo's autonomous taxi
(Image: Waymo)
The well-known London taxis are getting driverless competition: Alphabet subsidiary Waymo will offer its Waymo Driver service in the British capital in the future.
Starting next year, the self-driving taxis are to be on the road there, Waymo announced. There is no start date yet.
Empfohlener redaktioneller Inhalt
Mit Ihrer Zustimmung wird hier ein externes YouTube-Video (Google Ireland Limited) geladen.
Ich bin damit einverstanden, dass mir externe Inhalte angezeigt werden. Damit können personenbezogene Daten an Drittplattformen (Google Ireland Limited) übermittelt werden. Mehr dazu in unserer Datenschutzerklärung.
Waymo is currently still negotiating with the Ministry of Transport in London about the necessary permits, reports the British daily newspaper The Telegraph. The authorities are said to want to allow test operations from next spring. The service is then to be approved nationwide from 2027.
Meanwhile, Waymo is preparing for the launch in London. The company is cooperating with the mobility service provider Moove, with whom Waymo has already been working in the United States since the end of last year.
Development centers in London and Oxford
According to The Telegraph, Waymo has already posted job advertisements for London. The company itself points out that it has been active in Great Britain for a long time: Waymo maintains development centers in London and Oxford, where technologies for autonomous driving are also being worked on, among other things.
Videos by heise
In the British capital, Waymo will use the electric Jaguar I-Pace, converted into autonomous taxis, which are already in use in the US metropolises of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin, and Atlanta. In the USA, the vehicles are now used for around 250,000 paid rides per week. In total, there are now beyond ten million, Waymo announced. The vehicles have "driven well over 100 million miles fully autonomously on public roads".
Autonomous taxis are also planned to transport passengers here in the future. In Hamburg, the VW subsidiary Moia is planning such a service with the VW ID. Buzz AD, the autonomous version of the electric VW bus, as a robotaxi.
(wpl)
