Taxis are now driving themselves around London’s streets.
Waymo’s self-driving vehicles are now being allowed to make their journeys autonomously, the company has announced.
The company, which was previously Google’s self-driving car business, said late last year that it was planning to bring its autonomous taxis to the UK. Initially, they were being driven by humans so that the taxis could be tested and learn how to drive on London roads.
Now the company says that the cars will be allowed to drive themselves entirely autonomously. For now, they will have a driver in the front seat in case anything goes wrong – but the company says that it plans to stop using them and allow the taxis to be entirely autonomous later this year.
The Waymo Driver is officially navigating London!” said Waymo’s co-chief executive, Dmitri Dolgov. “Core driving AI generalising very well.
“Autonomous testing 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.”
London, we’re taking the next step! 🚙 We’re officially beginning autonomous driving with a trained specialist behind the wheel. We can’t wait to offer Londoners a quiet, convenient, and magical way to connect to the Tube, bus, or their final destination later this year. pic.twitter.com/Ria5GOBZLi
— Waymo (@Waymo) April 14, 2026
Waymo has claimed that its self-driving taxis will help make roads safer. They have received substantial support from the government, which has claimed that it will make travel more accessible as well as bringing new investment to the UK.
“Autonomous vehicles, such as Waymo, hold the potential to significantly improve road safety because, quite simply, the human driver is removed,” said James Gibson, executive director of Road Safety GB, in a statement released when Waymo launched its trial. “The data shows that the Waymo vehicles have performed far safer compared to human drivers across more than 100 million autonomous miles.
“Rolling out autonomous vehicles in a progressive yet measured way will be the best approach. The road safety profession and wider society should embrace it. It could lead to a future that our vision zero aspirations envision.”
