Waymo says it will expand to Europe next year with driverless robotaxis in London

American robotaxi firm Waymo announced on Wednesday that it plans to begin operations in the United Kingdom’s capital in 2026.

It said it will start testing its self-driving cars in London in the coming weeks while it works to secure permissions for autonomous ride-hailing there.

“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 co-chief executive Tekedra Mawakana said in a statement.

UK regulations require self-driving cars to meet safety requirements and have a safety level that is at least as high as “careful and competent human drivers”.

The rules are expected to be fully implemented by 2027, and the Waymo rollout is part of an early adoption programme.

“I’m delighted that Waymo intends to bring their services to London next year, under our proposed piloting scheme,” Heidi Alexander, the UK's secretary of state for transport, said in a statement.

Waymo is not the only self-driving car company eyeing European markets. Earlier this year, US ride-hailing app Lyft said it would partner with Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) firm Baidu to introduce robotaxis in the UK and Germany in 2026.

However, safety incidents involving self-driving cars have raised public concerns in recent years that could hinder their adoption – at least at first.

For example, in 2024 a self-driving Tesla crashed and killed a motorcyclist in the United States. The same year, a driverless taxi operated by Baidu struck a pedestrian in Wuhan, China.

However, Waymo says driverless technology can actually help make roads safer.

The firm says its data shows that roads where it operates report five times fewer injury-causing collisions overall and 12 times fewer incidents involving pedestrians, compared with human drivers.

Waymo began as a Google project in 2009 and has operated commercially in the United States since 2018.

The company has also partnered with local firms in Japan to begin testing its taxis there, though it is not yet clear when it might launch commercially.