Transport for London has granted private hire vehicle licences to up to 15 self-driving cars, allowing Uber and British AI firm Wayve to begin a year-long supervised robotaxi trial in the capital — a decision that has drawn sharp pushback from a union representing thousands of private hire drivers.
The vehicles, all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-Es fitted with Wayve’s “AI Driver” technology, will operate under Uber’s existing private hire operator licence, with a trained, TfL-licensed private hire driver on board at all times to supervise the trip and take over if needed — meaning this is not yet a fully driverless service. More than 100,000 Londoners have signed up to Uber’s interest list, with selected riders offered trial rides later this summer ahead of a wider public launch.
Caroline Russell AM, Chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee, said the approval was “not entirely unexpected” following months of scrutiny by the committee, which spoke to industry experts, operators, the Department for Transport and drew on international experience from cities including San Francisco and Oslo. She stressed that “the Committee still has many questions about the safeguarding of passengers,” adding that TfL would not be expected to consent to fully autonomous operation at this stage.
GMB Regional Organiser Matthew Wright was more forthright, calling the decision “a worrying development” for the union’s private hire driver members. “We can’t go charging ahead with new technologies without considering the implications of autonomous vehicles on all parties,” he said, questioning how drivers would be supported to reskill if jobs were lost, and raising questions over accident liability and the impact on disabled passengers. GMB has previously warned that widespread robotaxi adoption could put more than 300,000 UK jobs in the private hire sector at risk nationally.
London already has rival autonomous operators circling — Waymo has around 100 vehicles testing on London’s roads, and Chinese firm Baidu has begun public road testing in Brent with ride-hailing app FreeNow — so this licence gives Uber and Wayve a genuine first-mover advantage in the race to put paying passengers in a self-driving car in the capital.
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Sources:
- Highways Magazine – TfL grants approval for first fleet of autonomous ‘robotaxis’
- London City Hall – Transport Committee responds to TfL approval of supervised robocab service
- GMB Union – Self-driving ‘robotaxis’ in London ‘worrying development’
- TaxiPoint – Union warns London’s drivers face uncertain future
