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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Technology

Heed warnings from Wolmar on robotaxis

Waymo driverless cars in San Francisco, June 2025.
‘Consider the cautions.’ Waymo driverless cars in San Francisco, June 2025. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

In assessing the merits of driverless taxis (Driverless taxis from Waymo will be on London’s roads next year, US firm announces, 15 October), passengers should consider the cautions presented in Christian Wolmar’s book Driverless Cars: On a Road to Nowhere. Adherence to Isaac Asimov’s first law of robotics (“A robot may not injure a human being”) requires the taxi to stop if a person steps in front of it. Highway robbery or worse may be facilitated.
Prof Clive Coen
King’s College London

• Your article (Parliamentary staff of colour earn £2,000 less than white colleagues, study suggests, 12 October) says that disabled employees earn £646 less a year “than able-bodied colleagues”. Disabilities come in many forms, not all physical. Some of us are able‑bodied and disabled.
Sara L Uckelman
Durham

• Adrian Chiles’s column on the Stourbridge Shuttle (16 October) doesn’t mention its most significant feature: George the station cat, known to his social media followers as a source of wisdom, a mental health advocate and a photogenic delight. He also helps to raise money for a number of causes.
Anne Cowper
Bishopston, Swansea

• I am in agreement with Adrian Chiles’s mum (I went to Marina Abramović’s erotic, explicit new art show – and there was an awful lot to take in, 15 October).
Helen Evans
Ruthin, Denbighshire

• Has the Guardian ever published a letter by a more appropriately named correspondent than Frank Roper on climbing (13 October)?
Gary McGregor
Garvald, East Lothian

• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

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