Hail seizure

Will we really be in driverless taxis next year?

- Gwyn Topham and Robert Booth

The age-old question from the back of the car feels just as pertinent as a new era of autonomy threatens to dawn: are we nearly there yet? For Britons, long promised fully driverless cars, the answer is as ever - yes, nearly. But not quite.

A landmark moment on the journey to autonomous driving is, again, just around the corner. Waymo, which runs robotaxis in San Francisco and four other US cities, announced this week that it was bringing its cars to London.

Detail remains scant, but the promise eyecatching: the Silicon Valley pioneer said it was bringing its fully autonomous service “across the pond, where we intend to offer rides - with no human behind the wheel - in 2026 ... We can't wait to serve Londoners and the city's millions of visitors next year.”

Those millions might want an Oyster card for London Underground, just in case. The UK government, intent on luring big tech, set out plans in the summer to speed up the introduction of driverless cars, meaning robotaxis could start operating in regulated public trials as early as spring 2026. But the rules are yet to be fully established, and testing may include a safety driver for some time.

The British firm Wayve, in partnership with Uber, in the summer issued slightly more sober news of a “plan to develop and launch public-road trials of level-four fully autonomous vehicles in London”.

While Americans can enjoy the autonomous ride already, Britain's road to driverless cars has been marked by pledges that have tended to vanish. In 2018, Addison Lee - the future once - was promising, along with Oxford University scientists, to be launching robotaxis by 2021.