Waymo announced today that it has officially begun testing its autonomous vehicles on public roads in London, marking a critical step toward launching a commercial robotaxi service in the British capital later this year.
The Alphabet-owned company has been working toward this moment for months. In October, Waymo revealed its plans to begin driving on London’s public roads. After an initial phase of manual driving to map the city, the testing has now entered the autonomous phase. At this stage, περίπου 100 all-electric Jaguar I-Pace vehicles equipped with Waymo’s fifth-generation autonomous driving system are participating in the tests, each with a human safety operator behind the wheel. The testing covers an area of roughly 100 square miles across central London.
Waymo stated: “The government must first finalize its trial program regulations before we can operate fully autonomously. We will work closely with regulators to ensure that our service reaches as many Londoners as possible.”
Dmitri Dolgov, Co-CEO of Waymo, wrote on LinkedIn that the company’s core driving AI demonstrates strong generalization capabilities. “Autonomous testing is now underway with specialists behind the wheel as we master local nuances and validate performance on UK roads — a key step toward rider-only deployment,” είπε.
To support its business expansion, Waymo is actively hiring locally and plans to establish multiple autonomous vehicle service centers across London. The company is also working with local emergency services as it builds the foundation to expand its business in Europe.
Following Waymo’s typical deployment strategy, the company will eventually conduct driverless testing and allow its own employees to try the service before opening it to the public. Its plan to launch the service in 2026 ultimately depends on the UK government finalizing its approval process for such operations.
Ιδιαίτερα, Waymo already has ties to the UK: Σε 2019, the company acquired Latent Logic, a UK startup spun out of Oxford University’s computer science department that uses a form of machine learning called imitation learning to make self-driving car simulation more realistic. Waymo launched an engineering hub in Oxford as part of the acquisition.
Waymo currently has more than 3,000 robotaxis in its global fleet, with commercial operations spanning 11 cities including Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and the San Francisco Bay Area. London is poised to become Waymo’s first international commercial market (the company is also testing in Tokyo). Ιδιαίτερα, in London, Waymo will face competition from local autonomous driving technology startup Wayve and Uber, both of which also plan to launch fully driverless taxi services in the city.