The London Cycling Campaign has urged caution concerning the prospect of driverless taxis roaming the streets of London this year, after autonomous driving tech firm Waymo announced that it hopes to be operating a ‘robotaxi’ service in the capital perhaps as soon as September.

Waymo, formerly known as the Google Self-Driving Car Project, said this week that a pilot service for the scheme will launch in April, in preparation for the UK government’s plans to change its regulations on driverless vehicles at some point in the second half of 2026.

In November 2019, Waymo – owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet – secured permission from the California Department of Motor Vehicles for its vehicles to carry passengers without the need for a safety driver who could intervene in the case of a potential collision, making it the first company in the world to secure such clearance.

It has since established itself as the market leader in the United States for self-driving taxis, with commercial operations in San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Austin, and began testing its autonomous ‘robocabs’ in New York City last year.

> Waymo self-driving car lets cyclists pull out of blocked cycle lane

At London’s Transport Museum on Wednesday, Waymo showed off the fleet of taxis it hopes will be operational on London’s streets by September. The vehicles are currently being driven around London by a safety driver mapping the capital’s roads.

But when the scheme eventually launches, it will be driver-free, with customers able to hail a robotaxi through an app, with fares at a “competitive but premium” price, the company says.

According to Waymo, their cars use four sensor systems to gather data from the world outside – radar, lidar, vision, and microphone – enabling the vehicles to be “aware” of their surroundings up to a distance of three football pitches, and including during bad weather.

A powerful computer in the boot processes the data obtained by the sensor, determining how the car acts and reacts in “real time”.

> Uber warned over safety issues with its self-driving cars days before cyclist killed

Riva companies with similar systems, such as Uber and Lyft, also say they are ready to bring their own autonomous taxi services to the UK when the law permits.

Speaking at the launch event this week, local transport minister Lilian Greenwood said she expects self-driving cars like Waymo’s will make London’s roads safer.

“We’re supporting Waymo and other operators through our passenger pilots, and pro-innovation regulations to make self-driving cars a reality on British roads,” she said.

“We know that unlike human drivers, automated vehicles don’t get tired, don’t get distracted, and don’t drive under the influence.”

Nevertheless, Greenwood insisted that, before they become operational in London, self-driving cars will have to meet strict safety standards, “including protection from hacking and cyber threats”.

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And speaking to road.cc, the London Cycling Campaign has expressed reservations about their ability to adapt from the wide, straight roads of California to London’s winding lanes.

“As with all new innovation, it’s really early days for Waymo and other autonomous ride-hailing services in London,” the campaigns chief executive Tom Fyans told us.

“Waymo claims they’re far safer in the US than traditional taxi services. But whether that is still the case on London’s infamously complex, congested and contested streets, remains to be seen.

“At LCC, we talk to political leaders, innovators and private companies of all stripes all the time – to make sure everyone’s working hard to make London a better place for healthy, safe cycling for everyone. We hope new ride-sharing services will add to that, rather than detract from it.”

When it comes to how its cars operate around cyclists, it’s fair to say that Waymo has something of a chequered history.

When it first launched as Waymo back in 2016, the firm said its cars are programmed to recognise cyclists as “unique users of the road”, drive conservatively around them, and recognise common hand signals.

In 2019, the company also released a video showing one of its vehicles predicting that cyclists will move out onto the road to pass a car blocking a cycle lane, with the taxi slowing to allow them to safely move across.

However, in February 2024, a San Francisco cyclist was left with “non-life-threatening injuries” after one of the company’s taxis failed to detect his presence and struck him.

According to the company, “the cyclist was occluded by the truck and quickly followed behind it, crossing into the Waymo vehicle’s path. When they became fully visible, our vehicle applied heavy braking but was not able to avoid the collision.”

> Cyclist ‘doored’ by passenger of driverless taxi illegally parked in bike lane sues Google-owned company after tech failure caused “violent” crash

And last June, another cyclist in San Francisco sued the company after she was seriously injured when one of the brand’s driverless taxis stopped in a cycle lane and a passenger opened its back door, striking the cyclist and causing her to smash into another Waymo car that was also illegally blocking the bike path.

According to the lawsuit, the Safe Exit system employed by Waymo, which aims to alert passengers of surrounding dangers and hazards, failed – leading 26-year-old Jenifer Hanki to claim that Waymo knows its cars are ‘dooring’ cyclists.

Following the “violent” crash, which left her with a brain injury, as well as spine and soft tissue damage, preventing her from working or riding her bike, Hanki sued Waymo and Google’s parent company Alphabet in San Francisco County Superior Court alleging battery, emotional distress, and negligence, while seeking unspecified damages.