Waymo, the self-driving ride-hailing business owned by Alphabet, has confirmed its expansion into Europe. The company announced it plans to begin offering paid robotaxi rides in London next year.
Waymo’s Jaguar I-PACE vehicles will start making initial journeys on London streets “in the coming weeks” with safety drivers present, as the company prepares for the service launch. London will be the second city outside the U.S. in Waymo’s international expansion, following testing that began in Tokyo in April.
In London, Waymo states it will partner with Moove, a mobility solutions company it already collaborates with in Phoenix and Miami, for fleet operations, handling matters such as charging infrastructure and vehicle cleaning. In the U.S., Waymo has worked with several partners, including Lyft, Uber, and Avis, for some operational tasks.
However, London could prove the company’s biggest challenge yet as unlike the car-oriented cities that the USA has, the English capital city’s streets are more winding and narrow, which could be a challenge for the robotaxi service provider’s automated vehicles.
Waymo spokesperson Ethan Teicher commented: “We will take the same rigorous approach to testing and deploying in London as we have in other cities before offering rides to the public.”
It will take some time for Waymo to fully establish commercial operations in the UK, as the country is still in the process of creating guidelines and refining licensing procedures for self-driving car companies. Waymo is one of several companies taking part in the UK’s Autonomous Vehicle (AV) trial programme. Autonomous driving companies will be allowed to run small-scale autonomous pilot schemes with passengers starting in spring 2026.
UK Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander said in a statement that she was “delighted” about Waymo’s plans. “Boosting the [autonomous vehicle] sector will increase accessible transport options alongside bringing jobs, investment, and opportunities to the UK,” she said.
Although the UK Department for Transport has stated it has “fast-tracked” these pilot schemes so they could begin next year, a potential larger-scale introduction will not occur until the Automated Vehicles Act is fully implemented in the second half of 2027. So far, even UK-based autonomous software providers like Wayve and Oxa have not been permitted to conduct fully autonomous testing without safety drivers or remote monitoring on public roads.
Despite the longer timeframe for self-driving companies to begin operations in the UK, Waymo intends to be an early entrant in the market once the requirements are finalised. It plans to build upon the scale it is starting to achieve in the U.S. The Alphabet-owned subsidiary is currently operating commercially in five American cities, with plans to launch in several more. Waymo has completed over 10 million paid rides in the U.S. and has driven more than 100 million fully autonomous miles on public roads, placing it ahead of competitors such as Amazon-owned Zoox and Tesla, which have been running limited, small-scale pilot schemes or services in specific cities.
Image source: Waymo
