Buckle up: new era of taxi travel arrives next year - and this time there is no driver

Tech firms have transformed how the public takes taxis, but echoes remain from the minicab controllers of old: not least the promise that a long-awaited vehicle is - really, this time - just around the corner.

- Gwyn Topham

Now, Uber has announced that self-driving taxis will appear on roads in London next year, after the UK government confirmed that trials of fully autonomous vehicles would be brought forward to spring 2026.

Companies will be allowed to run pilots of small-scale taxi or "bus-like" services for public use - and, for the first time in Europe, without any human safety driver onboard or in the driving seat.

Uber will partner with the UK tech firm Wayve to launch trials of taxis bookable via its app in the capital, its largest European market.

A fuller rollout of self-driving taxis, or robotaxis, will come after the Automated Vehicles Act fully takes effect in late 2027.

The UK has sped up the process now that driverless taxis have become established in San Francisco in the US and numerous cities in China. Uber rolled out its first driverless taxis with the US firm Waymo in Austin, Texas, in March this year, where Tesla is also planning to launch a rival autonomous service this month.

The Department for Transport (DfT) said the technology would make UK roads safer and claimed it could create 38,000 jobs and create an industry worth £42bn by 2035.