Share to ClassroomLondon Approves First Self-Driving Taxis
London will soon have taxis that drive themselves. The city's transport authority, Transport for London (TfL), has given licences to 15 electric cars that use smart driving software from Wayve, a British technology company. Uber, the taxi app company, will run the service. The first rides will start later this summer. More than 100,000 people are on a waiting list to try the cars. A human driver will still sit behind the wheel to take control if there is a problem.
Many companies want to bring self-driving taxis to London. Uber and Wayve are trying to move faster than Waymo, which belongs to Google, and Apollo Go from the Chinese company Baidu. Wayve has tested its cars in London since 2018, always with safety drivers. TfL says experts checked the cars and they are safe.
Not everyone is happy. A union for taxi drivers says the plan is worrying. It fears many drivers could lose their jobs. TfL says safety comes first. The companies need more permission from the government before the cars can drive with no human inside. Uber plans to spend more than $10 billion on self-driving cars.
