Is London ready for Waymo?

Earlier this year I spent a few weeks in San Francisco, and was amazed at how in the two years since my previous visit, the city had become dominated by AI.

Waymo, the driverless taxis owned by Alphabet, parent company of Google, is perhaps the most visible element of this change. The white, camera-laden electric jaguars are everywhere – and while my first ride was quite thrilling (see video below) subsequent rides became normative. My Waymo rides were safe, convenient and competitively priced – what’s not to like?

A Waymo ride in San Francisco

And last week, Waymo announced that it’s coming to London.

Never mind that Uber and its AI partner Wayve announced earlier this year that they would be trialling autonomous vehicles in London next spring – the Waymo announcement caused a stir. Timing is everything.

Like most big announcements these days, this one was made on X. Waymo itself posted the image above, with the comment “We’re bringing the magic of Waymo to Londoners in 2026 (with Beefeater and Union Jack emojis). Demis Hassabis, the Nobel Laureate and co-founder of Google Deep Mind  - and Google’s most visible Londoner - immediately retweeted, commenting “riding in a Waymo autonomous vehicle is an amazing futuristic experience, straight out of science fiction. So excited to see the service coming to my hometown in London (Union Jack emoji)! Can’t wait for Londoners to try them out soon!”

What followed was a frenzy of comments ranging from wild excitement to grave concern:

“The future is here! Can’t wait to see how it transforms our cities”

“will gridlock London. Would love to see how it would cope with the bank interchange or the roundabout at Elephant & Castle”

“London is not the place for this. Sorry to tell you”

Later in the day the full details of Waymo’s London launch emerged.

The first test vehicles will start to appear on London streets in the coming weeks – but won’t be fully autonomous, as a human supervisor will be in the “driving seat” -- kind of like your former driving instructor who although in the passenger seat had his foot on the brake.

The project is a collaboration between Waymo, the Department for Transport and Transport for London, starting with human-supervised testing in late 2025 and full autonomy following regulatory approval under the Automated Vehicles Act of 2024.

A key question is will the public accept and even embrace Waymo? Londoners are remarkably adaptable – the last decade has seen a steady flow of penalties for motorists  (congestion charging, ULEZ, parking space reductions) and an enthusiastic takeup in the use of ebikes, both private and ridesharing – supported by TfL’s expansion of London’s Cycle Network.

London’s Black Taxis, having weathered the disruption of Uber through both ride sharing and Lime bikes, reacted negatively to news of Waymo’s London launch.

Steve McNamara, General Secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association which represents black cab drivers, told the Guardian

“It’s a fairground ride.

“It’s a tourist attraction in San Francisco. Quite frequently one of them will lock up in the middle of a junction because it gets confused and the police have to come and park, wait for the Waymo man to get his laptop out and get it going again.”

He told the Times

“Excuse me, while I watch the flying pigs go past my window... they’re not bringing in driverless cars, they’re bringing in semi-autonomous cars with someone sitting behind the wheel. I can’t see them replacing cabs, not in my lifetime....I wouldn’t feel comfortable sitting in a car that I have no control over. London is not San Francisco, it is a series of Roman villages stuck together, and there is far more pedestrian traffic than in the US, not to mention all those lunatics on rental bikes”.

London is indeed a different place than San Francisco – but these differences are an advantage in rolling out Waymo. London streets may be challenging to navigate but they are well encoded in Google’s own data as well as TfL’s. Also, the Black Cabbie’s unique mastery of London’s streets – also known as The Knowledge – could raise the bar for everyone in Waymo’s safety and accessibility.

I see four specific features of London that will underpin its success with automated vehicles:

1.   Safety

In theory, autonomous vehicles might be safer for London’s pedestrians and cyclists than human drivers, as Waymo’s cars are known in San Francisco for being less aggressive than some real drivers and less willing to break the law by running red lights.

London is one of the world’s  most most surveilled  cities -

far more than San Francisco or any of the other cities Waymo currently operates in.  This means that there is data – lots of it. which Waymo’s AI loves and masters very quickly, continuously improving accuracy and ultimately safety. It also gives passengers some peace of mind.

Waymo’s CEO told Time Magazine that its gradual, city-by-city approach is all about safety and this is why it will emerge victorious in the automated rideshare race. “Trust is hard to build and easy to lose,” she said,“ there have been other companies that have come and gone that have had very, very audacious claims. We’ve learned the amount of humility needed: Ultimately, it’s the riders who are going to decide.” 

2.   The Knowledge

London is known for its Black Taxis, and Black Taxis are known for the Knowledgeof London’s streets which can be mastered by AI – in collaboration with the cabbies themselves, according to researchers at the University of York.

Current computational models to understand human planning systems are challenging to apply to the ‘real world’ or at large scale, and so these researchers measured the thinking time of London taxi drivers while they planned travel journeys to various destinations in the capital city. They found that unlike a satnav, which calculates every possible route until it gets to the destination found that London taxi drivers rationally plan each route by prioritising the most challenging areas first and filling in the rest of the route around these tricky points.

3.   Government ambitions around AI

The current government has strongly signalled its intention to make London and the UK an AI powerhouse, both through its AI Opportunities Action Plan published at the start of this year and, more recently, its proposed New Blueprint for AI Regulation which it says “could speed up planning approvals, slash NHS waiting times, and drive growth and public trust”.

London is already seen in some quarters as an emerging capital of AI based on its talent pool alone. So there’s a lot riding on delivering this ambition, and Waymo plays into this. The optics are unmistakable, but there is also real substance to the benefits accrued from Waymo’s introduction here – which include acceleration of the local AI ecosystem through development of the regulatory framework, data infrastructure, and stimulation of further innovation in London’s AI and mobility sectors.

4.   World class cities have Waymo

London is one of several cities to launch Waymo next year, adding to the current portfolio of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Phoenix and Atlanta. It’s the first non-American city to take this on – joining New York, Washington DC, Dallas, Miami, Seattle and Denver for 2026 launches.

As the second-ranking top global city, according to Oxford Economics 2025 Global Cities index, it has an opportunity – and an obligation – to lead the way on urban living.

So is London ready for Waymo? Absolutely. Buckle up and enjoy the ride.

Clare Delmar

Listen to Locals

22 October 2025