AI-powered driverless taxis to start picking up fares in London 'this summer'
Londoners will be able to travel around the capital in driverless taxis as soon as this summer.
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One driverless cab firm has said it will be ready to start taking paying passengers “in the next couple of months.”
Wayve, which has a partnership with Uber, is poised to start allowing trips which can be booked on the Uber app in the same way as a normal taxi.
A human driver will still be in the car to take the wheel in case of emergency but the cars will be largely self-driving.
Other taxi firms planning to launch in London soon include Lyft and Waymo.
Government go-ahead for fully autonomous cars is expected in the second half of this year.
The Wayve self driving Ford Mustang Mach-e cars are equipped with 360 degree cameras and AI technology that lets them learn the streets and adapt to conditions as they go.
Kaity Fischer, who leads Wayve’s robotaxi business, said: “We’re looking forward to launching in London in the next couple of months.
“We’re ready to go, and can’t wait to get the public into our vehicles to experience Wayve technology first-hand.
“London has more than ten times the number of vulnerable road users. So more than ten times the cyclists, more than ten times the pedestrians than San Francisco. We have nearly 20 times more roadworks.”
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander said the technology had “the potential to transform how people travel” by “reducing road danger while driving growth and creating high-skilled jobs across the UK”.