While LA Burns Waymos, London Teases Driverless Car Pilot

The British government has announced plans to start testing self-driving taxi services on its roads, just as has been reduced in LA where several self-driving Waymo cars were set on fire.

Several vehicles were set on fire on Sunday during a protest against American immigration and customs enforcement attacks in Los Angeles and the use of the National Guard by the Trump government in the region.

The first plan in London, as proposed by the Department for Transport, includes a limited number of autonomous vehicles on specific roads – including in the capital.

The government wants to allow companies to fully launch autonomous taxi services in the second half of 2027.

Civil servants have been clear that they will prioritize safety over everything else.

“We will not allow this technology on our ways, unless we are convinced that really rigorous safety tests have been met,” said Marco Barbato of Transport Department spokesperson.

Large taxi tapes immediately announced interest. The American company Uber and UK established Wayve both said that they would be interested in becoming partners, so that they can jointly benefit from the plan to launch self -driving vehicles on London roads.

Wayve CEO Alex Kendall has acknowledged that testing in a busy city like London will be a challenging environment.

“This is not Phoenix, Arizona,” he said, referring to the city where the company was initially launched. “It is not a grid -like city in the desert where the sun always shines. London is a medieval, structured environment. It has seven times more Jaywalkers than San Francisco.”

Early tests, he said, will enable the company to show that it is “scalable and familiar”.

With the partnership, customers can use the Uber app to call Wayve cars. This is already how the setup works with Uber and Google’s Waymo in Austin, Texas and with Uber and Hyundai-linked MOTIONAL in Las Vegas.

“Our vision is to make autonomy a safe and reliable option for riders everywhere, and this process in London brings that future closer to reality,” said Uber President and Coo Andrew Macdonald.

This will not be the first time that technical startups have hit the streets in London. The city has already seen the Israeli company Mobileye that tests its collision technology on buses. And in the UK, autonomous vehicle manufacturer OXA has tested its technology in Oxford and London.

Published by Stacy Elliott.