The UK's first self-driving taxis are now in service and available to order across London via the Uber app.
Starting today, Uber users ordering a ride anywhere in the city could be matched with a driverless Ford Mustang Mach-E, controlled by British autonomous vehicle developer Wayve's AI Driver technology.
The announcement comes after Transport for London (TfL) last month awarded a private hire licence to Wayve's cars.
Wayve has been testing its latest-generation self-driving system on London's streets for around a year. Dubbed 'AV 2.0', it differs from previous iterations of autonomous vehicles in that the system can use AI to make decisions for itself, rather than following pre-programmed instructions.
The company says this vastly reduces hardware costs – compared with the extensive set of sensors required by Google's Waymo cars, for example – and means its Mustangs can better deal with unexpected situations.
We've tried it already: A ride in UK's first autonomous taxi reveals the future of driverless cars
Because Wayve's cars can apply their 'learnings' – built up over years of real-world testing – to unexpected situations, they also don't need to operate in the confines of a small geofenced area.
That means they can theoretically operate in an unfamiliar city from the get-go, and it also means they can carry out Uber duties right across London from launch – with the exception of airports.
If an Uber user accepts a self-driving car, they can then unlock the doors and start the trip through the app (shown below) – before taking their seat and using a touchscreen to monitor the trip's progress.
For the initial launch phase, a TfL-certified taxi driver will be in the front to supervise the trip. It has yet to be confirmed when the cars will start running around with no human on board.
With just 15 Wayve Mustangs operating in London so far, the chances of being allocated one – out of the capital's 100,000 Ubers – is slim. But the company will expand its fleet in line with its ambition to be a leading provider of autonomous mobility worldwide.
London is the first of 12 global cities in Wayve's and Uber's rollout plan. The two firms will start offering autonomous ride-hailing in Tokyo later this year, using similarly modified Nissan Leafs.
