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Driverless taxis from Waymo will be available for hire on London’s roads next year, the US company has announced.

The UK capital will become the first European city to have an autonomous taxi service of the kind now familiar in San Francisco and four other US cities using Waymo’s technology.

Waymo said its cars were now on their way to London and would start driving on the capital’s streets in the coming weeks with “trained human specialists”, or safety drivers, behind the wheel.

The company – originally formed as a spin-off from Google’s self-driving car programme and part of the same parent group, Alphabet – said it would scale up operations and work closely with the Department for Transport and Transport for London to obtain the necessary permissions to offer fully autonomous rides in 2026.

Uber and the UK tech company Wayve have also announced their own plans to trial their driverless taxis in the capital next year, after the British government said it would accelerate rules allowing public trials to take place before legislation enabling self-driving vehicles passes in full.

The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, said: “I’m delighted that Waymo intends to bring their services to London next year, under our proposed piloting scheme.

“Boosting the AV sector will increase accessible transport options alongside bringing jobs, investment and opportunities to the UK. Cutting-edge investment like this will help us deliver our mission to be world leaders in new technology and spearhead national renewal.”

A fuller rollout of self-driving taxis is expected in the UK after the Automated Vehicles Act fully takes effect in late 2027.

Waymo already has ties to Britain after opening its first European engineering hub in Oxford in 2019. It is also launching services in Tokyo using Jaguar Land Rover electric vehicles, its only other current venture outside the US.

The US company’s co-chief executive Tekedra Mawakana said the technology was “making roads safer and transportation more accessible”, adding: “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 launched its autonomous taxis in 2020 and now says it has taken more than 10 million passengers in the US.

Despite some alarming incidents, Waymo said the data showed that cars driven by humans were involved in incidents that injured pedestrians 12 times more often than its autonomous vehicles.

[Guangzhou, China, October 15, 2025] At the China Mobile Global Partner Conference, China Mobile Guangdong and Huawei unveiled their all-scenario autonomous network (AN) showroom. This showroom establishes a prime example for innovation and practices in high-value scenarios and the evolution of advanced ANs. It also highlights China Mobile Guangdong’s dedication to advancing the national strategy of self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology and progressing the seamless integration of the innovation and industry chains.

Within the digital transformation framework, China Mobile Guangdong follows five guiding principles for AN construction. This approach has significantly enhanced its digital and intelligent capabilities, strengthened data and process governance, and advanced L4 technology R&D in high-value scenarios. It also drives network capabilities toward productization and servitization, establishing a solid foundation for nationwide AN deployment.

After four years of exploration and practice, China Mobile Guangdong has achieved remarkable results in advancing L4 ANs. Leveraging Huawei’s telecom foundation model, China Mobile Guangdong has enhanced high-value scenarios such as SPN troubleshooting, stable and efficient core network O&M, home broadband experience assurance, and wireless network optimization through role-specific copilots and scenario-based closed-loop agents. This makes network operations more precise and efficient. Commercial benefits have become evident in three key areas. Quality has enhanced, with broadband service experience remarkably improved and average user downtime slashed to mere seconds. Efficiency has improved, with 5G private network provisioning time shortened to just hours. Expenditure has lowered, with over 200,000 person-days of labor cut and more than 400 million kWh of electricity conserved for wireless networks.

Li Huidi, Deputy General Manager of China Mobile, highly praised the showroom during the October 10 inspection and expressed his expectations for China Mobile Guangdong to spearhead innovative AN practices. China Mobile Guangdong will collaborate with Huawei to further elevate the AN showroom to the peak of innovation, a benchmark for creating business value, and a platform for realizing talent potential.

China Mobile Guangdong will deepen its strategic partnership with Huawei in AN to expedite large-scale application and ongoing innovation in high-value scenarios. Together, they aim to steadily achieve AN L4 objectives, fueling robust growth in the digital economy.

15 October 2025

Allen & Gledhill’s Tax Practice continues to be recognised as a leading law firm in the 2026 edition of World Tax, with a Tier 1 ranking in the Tax category and a Tier 2 ranking in the Tax controversy category.

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Our Consultant, Stephen Phua BBM, PBM, and Counsel Han Junwei, have also been rated as “Promoted” in the General Corporate Tax categories.

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