Autonomous vehicle driving on a city street.

Uber and Wayve Get First London Robotaxi Licences

technologyAug 7, 2026·298 words·3 min read

Taxis that drive themselves will soon carry passengers in London. Transport for London (TfL), the city's transport authority, has granted the first minicab licences to 15 electric Ford Mustang Mach-E cars that use artificial intelligence (AI) driving software from Wayve, a London technology company. The cars also carry six surround cameras and radar.

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.

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