Robotaxis are finally available in the UK. After months of testing, Uber began offering public robotaxi rides in London earlier today.
Customers in the city who book an UberX, Uber Electric, or Uber Comfort ride may now be matched with a Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicle equipped with Wayve’s AI Driver tech. Interested customers can accept Uber’s robotaxi offer at no extra cost or decline it and ride in a non-autonomous vehicle as usual.
When the car arrives, follow the instructions in the app to open the door and initiate the trip. For safety reasons, Uber’s initial robotaxi trips will have a supervisor behind the wheel, and the company will operate just 15 vehicles in its fleet.
More vehicles will be added “thoughtfully over time in line with rider demand, readiness, and regulation,” but if you’d like to increase your chances of being matched with a robotaxi, you can set your trip preferences to AV by going to **Account > Settings > Ride Preferences **in the mobile app. Approximately 140,000 Londoners have already done so, Uber says.
When it comes to the service area, Uber’s robotaxis cover all parts of London but not airports. It’s quite a challenging city for autonomous driving, since the roads are narrower and more irregular compared with orderly grid systems found in many modern cities.
"This launch is a major milestone in scaling safe, accessible AV technology in a city with some of the world’s most complex roads," says Sarfraz Maredia, Uber’s head of autonomous mobility.
Google-owned Waymo is also expected to begin its robotaxi service in London soon. It began testing Wayve’s driving tech last year and may launch public rides in the city this year.
Last month, Uber beat Waymo to become the first to launch robotaxi services in Europe with rides in Zagreb, Croatia. The company has committed $10 billion to its AV expansion and is targeting 15 cities by the end of this year. It is already operational in eight.
This comes as Tesla is expected to unveil more details about its Cybercab at an event in Austin, Texas, tonight. First unveiled in 2024, the robotaxi is a smaller coupe with two butterfly doors, two seats, and a single band of headlights, similar to the Cybertruck. There's no steering wheel or pedals, or a charging port, as it can charge via induction.