Uber Launches UK's First Robotaxi Service in London, But There's a Catch

Uber Technologies Inc. launched the UK's first robotaxi service in London on [date not specified], using 15 Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicles equipped with Wayve's AI Driver technology, with a safety supervisor behind the wheel for initial trips. Approximately 140,000 Londoners have opted in for autonomous rides, and Uber plans to expand the fleet 'thoughtfully over time' based on demand and regulation. The service covers all of London except airports, and Uber aims to operate in 15 cities by end of 2026, having committed $10 billion to autonomous vehicle expansion.

Robotaxis are finally available in the UK. After months of testing /ai/165418/heres-how-to-try-out-a-robotaxi-ride-in-london-using-the-uber-app , 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 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce9e838jzpzo 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 https://investor.uber.com/news-events/news/press-release-details/2026/Wayve-and-Uber-Launch-First-Ever-Autonomous-Rides-in-the-UK-2026-VoFQI1WbQi/default.aspx . 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 /cars-auto/160757/waymo-heads-across-the-pond-to-test-robotaxi-service-in-london and may launch https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/london-robotaxi-debut-waymo-wayve-ai-autonomous-vehicles/ public rides in the city this year. Last month, Uber beat Waymo to become the first to launch https://investor.uber.com/news-events/news/press-release-details/2026/Uber-Launches-Autonomous-Rides-in-Europe/default.aspx robotaxi services in Europe with rides in Zagreb, Croatia. The company has committed https://s23.q4cdn.com/407969754/files/doc earnings/2026/q2/transcript/Uber-Q2-26-Prepared-Remarks.pdf $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 /cars-auto/154837/elon-musk-unveils-autonomous-tesla-cybercab-robovan , the robotaxi is a smaller coupe with two butterfly doors, two seats, and a single band of headlights, similar to the Cybertruck https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/tesla-cybertruck . There's no steering wheel or pedals, or a charging port, as it can charge via induction /cars-auto/154844/teslas-robotaxi-event-mostly-fluff-except-for-one-interesting-technical-detail .