Londoners will be able to order “autonomous” Ubers from today as the ride-hailing firm becomes the first company to launch automated driving technology to customers in Britain.
The San Francisco-based firm announced it will allow users to book the autonomous cars through its app in London from Thursday, via its partnership with British AI driving start-up, Wayve.
“London is a world-class hub for transportation innovation and this launch is a major milestone in scaling safe, accessible AV technology in a city with some of the world’s most complex roads,” said Sarfraz Maredia, global head of autonomous mobility at Uber.
The new taxis will have human drivers to supervise the car as part of a “phased introduction” of driverless taxis, Uber said.
Uber and Wayve first announced their partnership two years ago and have been racing against Google-owned Waymo to launch the first driverless cars in Britain. Transport for London last month granted private hire vehicle licences to Wayve, whose fleet is made up of all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicles.
London has been seen as a more difficult challenge for driverless car firms due to its winding roads and complicated traffic rules. US cities such as Atlanta and Austin, which have grid-based road systems, have had driverless taxis for some time.
The launch in Britain was welcomed by ministers, who have championed Wayve as a homegrown British success story in recent years.
“This is a major milestone for the future of transport in London, as British innovation brings this technology onto our roads and gives passengers more choice,” said Heidi Alexander, Transport Secretary.
Alex Kendall, co-founder of Wayve, said the new cars will “complement the city’s rich transport network”.
As part of the new roll-out, customers will also be able to give driverless vehicles ratings out of five, as is done with current Uber drivers. However, people will not be prompted to tip if they are matched with Wayve vehicles.
Pricing rates will also be the same as for UberX, Uber Comfort or Uber Electric when riders are matched with Wayve vehicles. A touchscreen with 64 languages will allow people to view a map during their trip.
Hail a self-driving Uber today #
Earlier this year, Wayve’s vice president Kaity Fischer said testing was taking place around the clock in London over “some of the most complex streets imaginable”.
She said the capital’s range of cycling pathways, crossings, roadworks and cobbled streets was an “incredible proving ground” for the success of AI technology being used in driving.
City AM revealed that disagreements over the regulation of autonomous vehicles have split top chiefs at Waymo and Uber.
Uber and Waymo chiefs have sparred over whether rules should favour ride-hailing where robotaxis and human drivers operate together or whether autonomous vehicle companies can run their own services.
Wayve and Uber said it was “central” to have vehicles and human drivers “work side-by-side”.
The two tech companies are planning to partner with Nissan to bring driverless vehicles to Tokyo later this year.