Uber customers in London can now be matched with a self-driving taxi for the first time, as the company launches a small fleet of autonomous vehicles developed with British technology firm Wayve.
The service went live on Thursday, making London the first UK city where members of the public can pay for a ride in an autonomous car through a widely used taxi app.
However, passengers hoping to climb into a completely empty vehicle may be disappointed.
Every car will have a trained and Transport for London-licensed safety driver sitting behind the wheel. The technology controls the vehicle, but the person in the front seat can intervene if anything goes wrong.
It is therefore a supervised autonomous service rather than the fully driverless robotaxi system already operating in parts of the United States and China.
How to book one
Passengers cannot order a Wayve car directly.
Instead, anyone requesting an UberX, Uber Electric or Uber Comfort journey may be offered the chance to travel in one if a vehicle is available nearby.
There is no additional charge. Customers will see the usual upfront fare and can decline the autonomous car before it arrives if they would prefer a conventional Uber.
Users can improve their chances by opening the latest version of the Uber app, visiting Ride Preferences in the settings and switching on the autonomous vehicle option.
More than 140,000 Londoners have already opted in, according to Uber and Wayve.
Their chances of getting one immediately remain fairly slim. Only 15 vehicles have reportedly been licensed, compared with more than 100,000 private hire vehicles operating across the capital.
The cars can travel across Greater London, although airport journeys are excluded during the initial launch.
What happens inside the car?
The first vehicles are modified electric Ford Mustang Mach-Es fitted with Wayve’s autonomous driving system and a collection of surrounding sensors.
Passengers unlock the doors and begin the journey through the Uber app. Screens inside the vehicle show the planned route and can display information in 64 languages.
The safety driver will explain the system at the start of the trip and then concentrate on monitoring the vehicle.
Passengers can ask them to take control if they feel uncomfortable or require help. Customer support is also available through the Uber app and the screens inside the car.
Unlike a normal Uber trip, passengers should not expect much conversation from the person in the front. Wayve asks customers to keep chatting with the safety driver to a minimum so they can watch the road and the vehicle’s behaviour.
How does the technology work?
Wayve was founded in London in 2017 and has been testing its technology on the capital’s roads since 2018.
Its system takes a different approach from some of its best-known competitors.
Companies such as Google-owned Waymo use highly detailed maps alongside sensors and software to operate within carefully prepared areas.
Wayve says its technology learns from driving experience and can adapt to unfamiliar roads without depending on pre-mapped routes or a long list of instructions written for every possible situation.
That flexibility could be useful in London, where autonomous vehicles must deal with narrow streets, cyclists, pedestrians and frequent roadworks.
The system has been trained using driving data from hundreds of cities, although the company is still working to prove that it can operate safely at scale.
Wayve co-founder Alex Kendall acknowledged that the technology was “still maturing” and did not give a date for the removal of safety drivers.
He said the company must validate its safety performance, move towards vehicles built for larger-scale use and secure further regulatory approval before launching a fully driverless service.
These are not fully driverless taxis yet
Transport for London has licensed the cars as private hire vehicles. The operator, vehicle and safety driver must all hold the appropriate licences.
The journeys are currently taking place under the government’s code of practice for automated vehicle trials.
Separate approval will be required before Uber and Wayve can operate cars without anybody behind the wheel.
The Automated Vehicles Act created the legal framework for self-driving transport in Britain, including rules governing responsibility when a vehicle is operating autonomously. The full regulatory system is not expected to be in force until 2027.
The government has also opened a pilot scheme allowing companies to apply to run small taxi and bus-style autonomous services.
Officials say any vehicle used without a safety driver will have to pass strict assessments, including checks covering road safety and protection from cyber threats.
The government claims human error contributes to 88 per cent of road collisions in Britain and argues that autonomous technology could eventually reduce accidents caused by tiredness, distraction or impaired driving.
That remains a promise rather than a conclusion that can be drawn from this small London trial.
What happens to Uber drivers?
Uber insists autonomous vehicles will operate alongside human drivers rather than replace them.
The company says it expects to maintain a hybrid network, with passengers matched to either a conventional vehicle or an autonomous one depending on availability.
It also accepts that robotaxis are not currently cheaper to operate than vehicles driven by people. That may change as the technology improves and larger fleets are introduced.
Trade unions are less reassured.
David McMullen of the GMB warned that driverless vehicles could cause serious disruption in an industry supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs. The union wants the rollout handled carefully and has raised questions about what happens to drivers if autonomous services eventually become cheaper and more widely available.
There will also be questions about how the technology deals with accidents and unusual situations that a human driver might recognise immediately.
The current safety drivers provide a back-up while those issues are tested in real journeys.
London becomes a robotaxi battleground
Uber and Wayve are not the only companies interested in the capital.
Waymo is testing vehicles in London and is expected to launch its own service. Chinese technology company Baidu is also working with Lyft on plans for autonomous taxis in the city.
Uber has moved first, although its initial fleet is small and fully supervised.
The company plans to expand the number of Wayve vehicles gradually, depending on demand, safety results and regulatory approval. Nissan Leafs fitted with Wayve technology are also expected to join the wider international partnership.
For now, most London passengers will still be picked up by a human driver.
A small number will open the Uber app, accept a Wayve match and find a car largely driving itself through some of Britain’s most complicated streets.
There will just be somebody sitting behind the wheel in case it changes its mind.
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