ROBOTAXIS...ROBOTAXIS UBER AND WAYVE LAUNCH
LONDON’S FIRST SELF-DRIVING TAXI SERVICE
Londoners can now hail self- driving taxis for the first time after AVs developed by British tech firm Wayve were integrated into the Uber app on 3 September. Users across the city can be matched with a driverless Ford Mustang Mach-E, though the chances are currently slim with only 15 vehicles licensed out of the capital’s 100,000 Ubers. TfL awarded a PH licence to the vehicles last month, but current regulations require a TfL-certified safety driver to sit in the front seat during this initial phase. Passengers can unlock the doors and start the trip through the app before using a touchscreen to monitor progress, while the human supervisor remains ready to take over the controls. Regulatory approval for fully driverless operations without a safety driver requires a separate
process via the DVSA and is considered unlikely this year. Unlike competitors that rely on pre-programmed instructions or extensive sensor suites, Wayve’s ‘AV 2.0’ system uses AI to make decisions and apply learnings to unexpected situations. Alex Kendall, the chief executive and co-founder of Wayve, stated that he was proud to introduce the technology to “our home city and one of the most complex driving environments in the world.”
Kendall noted that robotaxi services without a safety driver would event- ually arrive, adding: “I don’t want to put a timeline on it, but we’re pushing as fast as we can.” Transport secretary Heidi Alexander hailed the launch as “a major milestone for the future of transport in London.” Sarfraz Maredia, the head of addressed concerns over liveli- hoods, emphasising that Uber envisions a hybrid network rather than a total replacement of staff, aiming for human drivers and AVs to work side by side. David McMullen, of the GMB union, warned: “With hundreds of thousands of people employed to drive every day, we need to be really careful with the rollout of driverless cars unless we are prepared to see unprecedented levels of social and economic disruption.”
THINKTANK WANTS ROBOTAXI LEVY TO REPLACE VANISHING FUEL DUTY BEFORE FLEET GROWS
The Centre for British Progress argues that autonomous vehicles should be taxed now, while there are too few owners to mount a political pushback.
It’s report
recommends a per-mile AV levy projected at roughly 88p a mile as the replacement for a fuel duty that electrification is quietly killing. This which would raise £47bn yearly by 2050. Wayve, the British firm at the front of the industry, calls it a penalty on the country’s own innovators while Wayve’s VP, Global Affairs &
10
Assurance, Sarah Gates, puts the global sector prize at £700bn. London robotaxis launched last month with Waymo and Baidu following Uber and Wayve, giving policymakers a narrow window before early owners form a lobbying block. For the private hire and taxi trade, the stakes are severe. England licenses 417,000 private hire and taxi drivers - 121,000 in London alone - with the report predicting mass obsolescence. GMB union London drivers branch
head Simon Rush warned that a levy alone is not enough, stating that questions to operators, TfL and ministers regarding re- deployment and reskilling plans have “gone unanswered to date”. Congestion risks compound the pressure, with departmental fore- casts projecting a 24% rise in road mileage under high automation by 2050, alongside data showing nearly half of Waymo’s California fleet mileage is driven empty. Meanwhile, the Treasury faces a £27bn annual hole in fuel duty .
OCTOBER 2026 PHTM
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