Maredia declines to set timeline for UK driverless approval
Uber and British technology company Wayve launched London’s first self-driving taxi service on Thursday, putting a small fleet of Ford Mustang Mach-E electric vehicles fitted with Wayve’s autonomous driving system into commercial operation for the first time in the city.
The launch brings the technology to a place where robotaxis have not previously operated and gives London access to a service already running in several U.S. and Chinese cities with no human driver in the vehicle.
The initial rollout is small. Each Ford Mustang Mach-E in the service carries a human safety driver behind the wheel, ready to grab the steering wheel or apply the brakes if the autonomous system encounters a problem.
The requirement comes from the U.K. government’s pilot framework, which requires separate regulatory approval before any of the vehicles can run passenger trips without a human safety driver on board.
European regulators have taken a more cautious approach than those in the United States and China. In several American and Chinese cities, robotaxis already operate autonomously with no human driver. European authorities have so far required a human presence behind the wheel for commercial self-driving cab services.
Sarfraz Maredia, Uber’s head of autonomous mobility, said the U.K. approval process for fully driverless service “is still playing out.” Maredia did not commit to a timeline for when driverless operation might be permitted in London.
Uber is launching the service alongside Wayve, the British company that developed the autonomous driving technology fitted to the Mach-E fleet.