Waymo eyes London robotaxi launch as public road testing begins

Waymo has officially begun testing its autonomous vehicles on public roads in London. The Alphabet-owned company is deploying a fleet of about 100 all-electric Jaguar I-Pace vehicles across a 100-square-mile area of the city. For this initial phase, the vehicles are operating with a human safety operator behind the wheel, following an earlier mapping phase where Waymo employees drove the vehicles manually to map the city before starting autonomous testing.

The company plans to launch a commercial robotaxi service in London this year, but its timeline for 2026 hinges on the U.K. government finalizing its approval process. A Waymo spokesperson stated that the government must first finalize its trial program regulations before the company can operate fully autonomously. If Waymo follows its typical strategy, it could eventually conduct driverless testing and allow its own employees to try the service before opening it to the public.

Waymo already has established ties to the U.K., having acquired Latent Logic, a startup spun out of Oxford University’s computer science department, in 2019. Latent Logic uses imitation learning, a form of machine learning, to make self-driving car simulation more realistic. Waymo also launched an engineering hub in Oxford as part of the acquisition. The company is now hiring locally and establishing multiple service centers in London as it builds a foundation to expand in Europe. Currently, Waymo operates commercially in 11 cities, including Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Documents filed in January with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (the U.S. federal regulator for vehicle safety) indicate that Waymo’s fleet includes more than 3,000 robotaxis, though it is possible the fleet has expanded with a new minivan-like vehicle manufactured by Zeekr.

Waymo will face competition in London from U.K.-based autonomous vehicle technology startup Wayve and Uber. Additionally, Wayve, Uber, and Nissan signed an agreement in March to launch a pilot program in Tokyo, another market where Waymo is currently testing. Commenting on the London milestone, Waymo co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov noted that “autonomous testing now underway with specialists behind the wheel as we master local nuances and validate performance on UK roads — a key step toward rider-only deployment.”

Why it matters

Waymo’s expansion into London marks a significant step in its growth strategy within Europe, though the timeline for commercial operations remains dependent on finalizing U.K. regulatory frameworks.