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In April 2026, Waymo is launching a pilot passenger ride-hailing service in London using driverless vehicles. It is the company’s first such deployment in Europe.

The pilot is the second stage of Waymo’s three-phase plan to enter the British market. In the first phase, around 24 Jaguar I-Pace vehicles equipped with the Waymo Driver system operated on London streets with safety drivers, collecting data and creating detailed maps of the city. In the pilot phase, the first passengers will board the cars, while fleet operations will be handled by Waymo’s partner Moove, which already manages the company’s autonomous vehicles in Phoenix.

The commercial launch of the service is planned for September 2026, subject to regulatory approval. The British government has announced an update to the implementing regulations of the Automated Vehicles Act in the second half of 2026, as well as the formal launch of the Automated Passenger Services scheme in the spring. The full regulatory framework for commercial autonomous services is to be implemented in the second half of 2027. Any fully driverless service in the capital will additionally require approval from Transport for London.

The Waymo Driver system uses a combination of cameras, radars and lidars, creating a full 360-degree view of the vehicle’s surroundings. According to company data, its autonomous cars have driven more than one hundred million fully autonomous miles on U.S. roads and completed more than ten million paid rides. As of March 2026, Waymo’s operational fleet numbered around 3,000 vehicles in U.S. cities.

The London pilot is Waymo’s second international project after Tokyo. Its outcome will be an important test of the scalability of autonomous technology in the dense, historic fabric of European cities, as well as a test of the British regulatory model, which aims to reconcile innovation with safety requirements and local oversight.

Category: Deployment / Testing Country/region: United Kingdom (London) Date of event: April 2026

Sources:
„Waymo is set to launch its London pilot this month” — TechRadar, 7 kwietnia 2026, https://www.techradar.com/tech/waymo-is-set-to-launch-its-london-pilot-this-month-heres-what-you-need-to-know
„The Next Battleground for Robotaxis” — OilPrice.com, 7 kwietnia 2026, https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Next-Battleground-for-Robotaxis.html
„Waymo Robotaxis Hit London Streets” — TechTimes, 6 kwietnia 2026, https://www.techtimes.com/articles/315707/20260406/waymo-robotaxis-hit-london-streets-driverless-cars-prepare-challenge-uber-transform-urban-travel.htm