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Waymo said Wednesday that it will start testing its self-driving
cars on London streets in the coming weeks — with a human
“safety driver” behind the wheel — as it seeks to win government
approval for its services.
In a blog post, Waymo said it will “lay the groundwork” for its
London service in the coming months. The company said it will
“continue to engage with local and national leaders to secure
the necessary permissions for our commercial ride-hailing
service.”
Waymo’s self-driving taxis have been operating in the United
States for years, and currently serve the cities of Phoenix, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Austin. This year, the
company made its first moves to expand internationally by
teaming up with local partners in Japan for testing, though no
launch date has been set for commercial service there.
The company began as a secret project within Google and was then
spun out from the tech giant.
Waymo will have to follow new U.K. regulations on self-driving
cars that pave the way for autonomous vehicles to take to the
country's roads. They require self-driving cars to have a safety
level “at least as high as careful and competent human drivers”
and meet rigorous safety checks.
The company will be able to take part in a pilot program for
“small-scale" self-driving taxi and bus services that the
government plans for spring 2026.
Waymo will also have to stick to rules from Transport for
London, the city's transport authority, which oversees licensing
for its famous traditional black cabs as well as other taxi
operators like Uber.
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