Waymo Launches Autonomous Driving on London Roads in First European Deployment

Waymo's London Milestone

Waymo, the autonomous driving subsidiary of Alphabet, announced on 14 April 2026 that its self-driving vehicles have begun operating autonomously on London's public roads. The move marks a significant milestone as Waymo's first deployment in Europe and its first operational city outside the United States.

From Mapping to Autonomous Mode

A fleet of approximately 100 all-electric Jaguar I-Pace vehicles equipped with the Waymo Driver AI system are now navigating London's streets, though trained human safety specialists remain behind the wheel during this phase. The autonomous testing follows months of preparation in which human drivers manually piloted the fleet across tens of thousands of miles on London roads, gathering detailed mapping data since late 2025.

Waymo co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov said the core driving AI is "generalising very well" to the London environment, with the company having trained its system within a simulated version of the city before transitioning to real-world autonomous operation.

Commercial Launch on the Horizon

Waymo is targeting a commercial robotaxi service launch in London by September 2026, contingent on the UK government finalising its approval process. The company is working with fleet operations partner Moove to scale up operations and establish multiple service centres across the capital. The testing area covers approximately 100 square miles of the city.

Competitive Landscape

Waymo is not alone in pursuing London's autonomous vehicle market. Uber has partnered with UK-based startup Wayve and Chinese firm Baidu for separate driverless taxi trials, while Tesla has also received approval for unsupervised Full Self-Driving pilots in the capital. All operators are benefiting from the UK's Automated Vehicles Act 2024, which shifted legal liability for incidents from the person in the vehicle to the company operating the technology.

Proven Safety Record

Waymo points to its extensive US track record as evidence of readiness, citing data from 170 million fully autonomous miles showing its system was involved in 92% fewer crashes causing serious or fatal injuries compared to human drivers. The company currently operates roughly 3,000 robotaxis across 10 US cities, completing approximately 500,000 paid rides per week.