GoKawiilTo be a pedestrian in London is to have the power. Tube strikes? Bus delays? No fear -- you can probably walk there faster anyway. And traffic? Make it stop for you. There are no jaywalking laws here.
It's against this backdrop of people stepping out into the road whenever they damn well please that Waymo plans to launch its fully autonomous robotaxis this year.
"We're treating London with the appropriate amount of humility and respect," Saswat Panigrahi, Waymo's chief product officer, told the audience at SXSW London.
On a couple of occasions throughout the tech festival, I caught a glimpse of one of the company's Jaguar I-Pace vehicles rolling slowly along the street. Waymo employees have started traveling around the city in Waymo vehicles, of which there are 100 -- all still under the watchful eye of a human driver for now.
The testing in the British capital comes ahead of Waymo opening up to the public by the end of 2026. And it's not alone. Wayve, one of the UK's most valuable AI startups, has also been trialing its tech on London roads. It plans to launch its autonomous ride-hailing service in London this year in partnership with Uber before expanding to Tokyo and the US.
The two companies rely on different technologies: Waymo uses a classic robotics approach based on 3D mapping combined with sensors and lidar, while Wayve uses an AI driver that taps into end-to-end neural networks trained on extensive data. But for Londoners, both options will introduce a brand new experience into the city's well-established transport network. Both companies will also have to contend with many of the same unique-to-London challenges.
London roads: "The hardest edge cases"
When I finally get to try Waymo in London, it won't exactly be my first time. I have been in one of the cars before on a mission to go for tacos in San Francisco's Mission district. On that occasion, struggling to find somewhere to pull over, the Waymo circled the block several times before it would let me out.
London isn't a grid-based city but instead packs complex one-way systems into its labyrinthine medieval streets. If a car misses its chance to stop, it could be much harder to remedy. It's like driving around San Francisco's Chinatown but all the time, Waymo spokesperson Ethan Teicher told me in an interview at the company's SXSW London booth.
The Waymos are ready for rain. Katie Collins/CNET
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