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American company Waymo has announced that its driverless vehicles will be available for booking on London's thoroughfares starting next year.

London Becomes Pioneering European City for Autonomous Taxi Service.

The UK capital will become the pioneering European city to host an driverless taxi service, similar to those already in use in San Francisco and several American urban centers utilizing Waymo's advanced technology.

First Testing Phase to Commence with Trained Operators.

Waymo confirmed that its fleet are currently en route to London and will commence navigating on the city's streets in the next few weeks with experienced operators supervising the vehicles.

Waymo – initially formed as a offshoot from the tech giant's autonomous vehicle project and belonging to the Alphabet family – explained it would expand operations and collaborate with the UK transport authorities and London's transport agency to obtain the essential permissions to provide fully autonomous trips by 2026.

Expanding Interest in Self-Driving Transport In London.

Further companies, including Uber and the British tech company Wayve, have also declared their own intentions to pilot autonomous cabs in the city next year.

This follows the UK authorities confirming it would fast-track regulations permitting real-world tests to occur before legislation allowing self-driving vehicles is enacted in full.

“I am thrilled that Waymo intends to launch their services to London next year, under our suggested trial program,” stated the government minister, Heidi Alexander.

“Strengthening the AV sector will improve available travel alternatives in addition to generating work, investment, and opportunities to the UK. Cutting-edge support like this will help us deliver our objective to be global pioneers in advanced innovation and spearhead countrywide development.”

Full Rollout Projected After Regulatory Framework Takes Effect.

A more extensive deployment of self-driving vehicles is projected in the UK after the Automated Vehicles Act fully takes effect in 2027.

Waymo's Established Presence in the UK and Beyond.

Waymo already has ties to the UK after establishing its pioneering European technical center in Oxford in 2019.

It is also launching operations in Tokyo using Jaguar Land Rover electric vehicles, marking its only other present venture beyond the US.

“Our experience shows how to responsibly scale completely driverless taxi services, and we look forward to extend the positive impacts of our technology to the United Kingdom,” remarked the company executive, explaining that the technology was “making roads safer and travel more available”.

Demonstrated History in the US.

Waymo introduced its driverless vehicles in 2020 and currently claims it has served over ten million customers in the United States.

In spite of some troubling occurrences, Waymo stated that statistics demonstrated that cars controlled by people were associated with crashes that hurt people on foot 12 times more often than its driverless fleet.