Uber has overtaken Waymo by launching a robotaxi service in London, becoming the first company in the city to offer paid rides in autonomous vehicles. The vehicles, powered by technology developed by Wayve, will initially have safety drivers licensed by Transport for London (TfL) on board. The drivers will monitor the system from the front seat but will not control the vehicle; a transition to a fully driverless service is planned over time.
Uber users in London will be able to indicate their autonomous vehicle preferences in the app settings. Bookings made through UberX, Uber Comfort or Uber Electric may be matched with Wayve vehicles, but this will not be guaranteed. Wayve’s fleet includes Ford Mustang Mach-E models, while Nissan Leaf vehicles are also expected to be used in the future. Since there are approximately 15 vehicles registered with TfL, finding a match may be difficult at the beginning.
Wayve says its system does not rely on the virtual operating zones, high-definition maps and expensive sensors used by traditional robotaxis. The service is intended to be offered across “all of London,” excluding airports. The vehicles use cameras and radar, but do not feature the lidar sensors found in Waymo’s systems. The company’s AV2.0 system is based on a single AI driver trained to adapt to different roads, weather conditions and driving scenarios.
Uber and UK fleet operator Otto Car will be responsible for maintaining and servicing the vehicles, while Wayve will manage the autonomous driving system. Founded in 2017, Wayve raised 1.2 billion dollars this year from investors including Uber, Nvidia, Stellantis, Nissan and Mercedes-Benz.
Waymo announced that it will launch its robotaxis in London before the end of the year. Lyft, meanwhile, plans to establish a robotaxi network in the Brent area with Baidu. While Uber advocates a hybrid system in which human drivers and robotaxis operate together, Waymo wants a fully driverless model. Uber plans to spend more than 10 billion dollars over time to develop its robotaxi operations.
Why it matters
The fact that the service will initially operate with safety drivers shows that autonomous transportation in London is being tested within a framework of oversight and accountability before transitioning to fully driverless operations. The registered fleet of approximately 15 vehicles and the lack of a guaranteed match mean that users may not always be able to access this option in practice. Uber’s integration of human drivers and robotaxis into the same system creates an operating model distinct from Waymo’s fully driverless approach; this difference raises questions about how the service will scale and which option passengers will prefer. The plans of Waymo and Lyft are also turning London into a market where different autonomous driving technologies, operating models and sensor approaches will converge.
Background
Uber is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: we have published 7 news articles mentioning the name in the last 90 days; the most recent is dated September 5, 2026.