Waymo is bringing autonomous, driverless ride-hailing to London in 2026 (9to5google.com)

Waymo announced it will launch a fully autonomous, driverless ride‑hailing service in London in 2026, offering trips bookable through the Waymo app. The rollout follows Waymo’s U.S. operations (over 100 million autonomous miles and 10 million paid rides) and a limited expansion to Tokyo earlier this year. To prepare, Waymo is partnering with fleet operator Moove and will spend the coming months securing local and national permissions; the company already maintains engineering hubs in London and Oxford. Waymo positions the service as a complement to London’s public transport network and highlights accessibility benefits touted by the RNIB and local officials. Technically and operationally, the move is significant because it tests Waymo Driver in a dramatically different driving environment—left‑hand traffic, dense urban congestion, complex pedestrian flows and unique signage—raising questions about map, perception and planning adaptation. Waymo’s safety metrics (claimed five‑times fewer injury‑causing collisions overall and twelve‑times fewer involving pedestrians versus human drivers) are central to its regulatory and public acceptance strategy. If approved, this expansion will be a major milestone for commercializing driverless mobility outside North America, with implications for fleet partnerships, local regulation, and how autonomous stacks generalize across diverse road systems.