Iván Hernández Dalas: Waymo plans to bring driverless robotaxis to London in 2026

A rendering of the 6th-generation Waymo Driver on Hyundai’s all-electric IONIQ 5 SUV.

A rendering of the sixth-generation Waymo Driver on Hyundai’s all-electric IONIQ 5 SUV. | Source: Waymo

Waymo LLC announced last week that it plans to bring its robotaxi services to London in 2026. The company said its services will support the city’s extensive network of bus, tube, bike, and pedestrian infrastructure.

“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.”

Over the coming months, Waymo plans to lay the groundwork for its service in collaboration with its fleet partner Moove. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company said it will also engage with local and national leaders to secure the necessary permissions for its commercial ride-hailing service in London.

In the U.S., the Waymo Driver has already driven over 100 million fully autonomous miles on public roads and provided more than 10 million paid rides. The company said it is now driving more than 2 million fully autonomous miles and providing over a quarter million rides per week. Waymo currently operates services in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin.

Waymo already has ties to the U.K.

London and Oxford are home to Waymo’s first international engineering hubs. These hubs include teams advancing large-scale, closed-loop simulation, a development method for fully autonomous driving technology.

The company is also partnering with Jaguar Land Rover, a British brand. Waymo uses Jaguar’s all-electric I-PACEs, outfitted with the Waymo Driver, across its deployments.

“I’m delighted that Waymo intends to bring their services to London next year, under our proposed piloting scheme,” said Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander. “Boosting the AV sector will increase accessible transport options, alongside bringing jobs, investment, and opportunities to the U.K. Cutting-edge investment like this will help us deliver our mission to be world leaders in new technology and spearhead national renewal that delivers real change in our communities.”

Waymo hopes to help London achieve its transportation priorities, which include targets for reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured on the city’s roads. The company’s data shows its vehicle is involved in five times fewer injury-causing collisions and 12 times fewer injury-causing collisions with pedestrians compared to humans.

Robotaxis to roll out worldwide

London isn’t Waymo’s first overseas deployment. In April 2025, the company began testing its vehicles on public roads in Tokyo. During the testing, trained drivers manually drive Waymo vehicles across seven central Tokyo wards. The company said this manual operation will provide its engineers with experience to test, refine, and adapt its autonomous driving technology to local traffic patterns and road features.

In addition to London and Tokyo, Waymo has plans to expand to launch services in Miami, Atlanta, Dallas, and Nashville in the coming years.

Waymo, which was named The Robot Report‘s Robot of the Year in 2025, has emerged as a clear leader in the robotaxi space. In the U.K., Waymo will face competition from Wayve, a London-based developer.

In June 2025, Wayve announced plans with Uber to develop and launch public-road trials of SAE Level 4 autonomous vehicles in London.

 

The post Waymo plans to bring driverless robotaxis to London in 2026 appeared first on The Robot Report.



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