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Waymo to launch autonomous ride-hailing service in London in 2026

AuthorMaria Ponnezhath
Published 15/10/2025, 10:24
© Reuters.
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Investing.com -- Waymo announced Wednesday it will bring its fully autonomous ride-hailing service to London, with plans to offer rides without human drivers starting in 2026.

The Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)-owned autonomous vehicle company will work with fleet operations partner Moove over the coming months to prepare for the launch while engaging with local and national leaders to secure necessary permissions for commercial operations.

"We’re thrilled to bring the reliability, safety and magic of Waymo to Londoners," said Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana. "Waymo is making roads safer and transportation more accessible where we operate. We’ve demonstrated how to responsibly scale fully autonomous ride-hailing, and we can’t wait to expand the benefits of our technology to the United Kingdom."

Waymo already has connections to the UK through engineering hubs in London and Oxford, where teams work on simulation technology for autonomous driving development.

The company also partners with British automaker Jaguar Land Rover, whose electric I-PACE vehicles equipped with Waymo technology currently serve hundreds of thousands of autonomous rides weekly in the U.S. and are operating in Tokyo.

UK Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander expressed support for the planned service, noting it would "increase accessible transport options alongside bringing jobs, investment, and opportunities to the UK."

The company cited safety data showing its technology is involved in five times fewer injury-causing collisions and twelve times fewer injury-causing collisions with pedestrians compared to human drivers. Waymo has provided more than ten million paid rides and driven over one hundred million fully autonomous miles on public roads in the U.S.

Robin Spinks, Head of Inclusive Design at the Royal National Institute of Blind People, called the planned introduction "the potential for the dawn of a new era in independent mobility options for blind and partially sighted people."

 

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