Robotaxis begin carrying real passengers in more cities, but London remains cautious while the U.S. drops drivers

London has joined the robotaxi race, but its first passenger service still keeps a licensed driver behind the wheel. Uber and British technology company Wayve began offering supervised autonomous rides in early September, giving passengers in Britain their first chance to be matched with a self-driving vehicle through an app.

The service uses electric Ford Mustang Mach-Es equipped with Wayve’s AI Driver system, cameras and radar. Passengers book UberX, Uber Electric or Uber Comfort as usual. If the app matches them with a Wayve vehicle, they can accept it or switch to a conventional car. Uber says autonomous rides do not cost more.

The trial remains tightly limited. London’s transport authority has allowed up to 15 vehicles to participate for one year, and a licensed driver must remain in the driver’s seat, ready to take control or brake. The city presents a demanding test for the technology, with narrow roads, complicated traffic patterns and heavy flows of buses, taxis, cyclists and pedestrians. In Britain, pedestrians may also cross roads outside marked crossings, creating situations the system must handle.

Wayve has tested its technology in London for years. The company says its system learns from real-world driving data and is designed to adapt to new environments without relying entirely on prebuilt high-definition maps. Waymo is also testing in London, while Baidu plans to enter the British market.

The public is not broadly convinced. A YouGov survey of 1,053 London adults commissioned by the London Assembly’s transport committee found that 42% opposed autonomous passenger vehicles in the city, compared with 29% who supported them. Only 29% said they were likely to use one. The United States is moving faster: Waymo began taking public passengers in Denver, San Diego and Tampa on Sept. 1, lifting the number of U.S. cities with fully autonomous service to 14.