London has officially entered the era of autonomous driving, with driverless cabs now accessible to the public through the Uber app in collaboration with British technology company Wayve. This development represents a notable shift in the European self-driving car landscape, which has been closely watched by competitors including Google’s Waymo and Chinese technology giant Baidu.
While Waymo and Baidu have been targeting Europe as a largely unexplored market for their autonomous vehicles, Wayve’s launch in London serves as its inaugural mass-market rollout. The UK-based firm has since announced plans to expand its operations significantly, with upcoming deployments scheduled for Tokyo and ten additional cities worldwide, all facilitated through its partnership with Uber.
Finally, London gets its hands on homegrown autonomous tech. Wayve has serious momentum with this Uber partnership.
I’m amazed they are doing this before any other European city. But honestly, I’m still a bit nervous about riding in a car with no driver.
How is the safety record so far? With Waymo already established in the US, London is going to be the real test for Wayve.
London first, then Tokyo? That’s a bold expansion strategy. I hope they have enough self-driving cars ready for all those cities at once.