London robotaxi launch slips as regulators hold back on guidance
More than 100,000 Londoners have signed up to ride in a self-driving taxi, and right now they have nothing to do but wait. Uber and Wayve, the British autonomous driving firm behind the service, had promised trips would begin “later this summer”. According to The Guardian, the launch is now unlikely to happen in 2026 at all.
The hold-up is not the technology. Wayve has been testing its system on British roads for years, and earlier this month it became one of the first companies to receive a private hire licence from Transport for London, clearing the way for pilot operations. The trial fleet will be Ford Mustang Mach-Es fitted with cameras and radar but no lidar, and each car will carry a safety driver who can take over in an instant. Uber, which led a $1.5bn funding round in Wayve earlier this year, will handle dispatch through its app.
The problem is the rulebook. The Automated Vehicles Act 2024 created the legal framework for self-driving vehicles in Britain, but the secondary legislation that would let them carry passengers commercially has not been enacted. Until it is, operators cannot move beyond trials.
TfL has its own timetable, and it is in no hurry. Christina Calderato, the authority’s director of strategy, told the London assembly’s transport committee last month that TfL would not be in a position to start accepting applications “for some time”. There was, she said, “a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes”, and no appetite to rush the guidelines out.
That caution sits awkwardly with the government’s own sales pitch. Ministers have repeatedly said they want Britain to lead on autonomous vehicles, and their estimates put the industry’s potential at 38,000 jobs and up to £42bn for the economy by 2035. The gap between the rhetoric and the rulemaking is becoming hard to miss.
Industry figures argue that every month of delay makes investment decisions harder to justify. Several autonomous vehicle companies are watching London closely, and some are already weighing up European cities where the regulatory path is clearer. A serious incident involving a self-driving car anywhere in the world would reset the political conversation, and regulators know it.
Public appetite, at least, does not seem to be the issue. The 100,000-strong waiting list suggests plenty of people want to try the service, and the companies behind it say they remain committed to London. The vehicles are ready. The question now is when the paperwork catches up.
The story was first reported by The Guardian on 26 August. Read the full report at https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/26/london-rollout-robotaxis-delayed-uber-wayve.