A rendering of the sixth-generation Waymo Driver on Hyundai’s all-electric IONIQ 5 SUV. | Supply: Waymo
Waymo LLC introduced final week that it plans to carry its robotaxi providers to London in 2026. The corporate stated its providers will assist town’s in depth community of bus, tube, bike, and pedestrian infrastructure.
“We’re thrilled to carry the reliability, security, and magic of Waymo to Londoners,” stated Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana. “Waymo is making roads safer and transportation extra accessible the place we function. We’ve demonstrated tips on how to responsibly scale absolutely autonomous ride-hailing, and we will’t wait to develop the advantages of our expertise to the UK.”
Over the approaching months, Waymo plans to put the groundwork for its service in collaboration with its fleet associate Moove. The Mountain View, Calif.-based firm stated it would additionally have interaction with native and nationwide leaders to safe the mandatory permissions for its industrial ride-hailing service in London.
Within the U.S., the Waymo Driver has already pushed over 100 million absolutely autonomous miles on public roads and offered greater than 10 million paid rides. The corporate stated it’s now driving greater than 2 million absolutely autonomous miles and offering over 1 / 4 million rides per week. Waymo presently operates providers in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin.
Waymo already has ties to the U.Ok.
London and Oxford are house to Waymo’s first worldwide engineering hubs. These hubs embody groups advancing large-scale, closed-loop simulation, a improvement methodology for absolutely autonomous driving expertise.
The firm can be partnering with Jaguar Land Rover, a British model. Waymo makes use of Jaguar’s all-electric I-PACEs, outfitted with the Waymo Driver, throughout its deployments.
“I’m delighted that Waymo intends to carry their providers to London subsequent 12 months, below our proposed piloting scheme,” stated Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander. “Boosting the AV sector will enhance accessible transport choices, alongside bringing jobs, funding, and alternatives to the U.Ok. Chopping-edge funding like this can assist us ship our mission to be world leaders in new expertise and spearhead nationwide renewal that delivers actual change in our communities.”
Waymo hopes to assist London obtain its transportation priorities, which embody targets for lowering the variety of individuals killed or significantly injured on town’s roads. The corporate’s information exhibits its automobile is concerned in 5 instances fewer injury-causing collisions and 12 instances fewer injury-causing collisions with pedestrians in comparison with people.
Robotaxis to roll out worldwide
London isn’t Waymo’s first abroad deployment. In April 2025, the corporate started testing its autos on public roads in Tokyo. Throughout the testing, skilled drivers manually drive Waymo autos throughout seven central Tokyo wards. The corporate stated this handbook operation will present its engineers with expertise to check, refine, and adapt its autonomous driving expertise to native visitors patterns and street options.
Along with London and Tokyo, Waymo has plans to develop to launch providers in Miami, Atlanta, Dallas, and Nashville within the coming years.
Waymo, which was named The Robotic Report‘s Robotic of the Yr in 2025, has emerged as a transparent chief within the robotaxi area. Within the U.Ok., Waymo will face competitors from Wayve, a London-based developer.
In June 2025, Wayve introduced plans with Uber to develop and launch public-road trials of SAE Degree 4 autonomous autos in London.
