I rode one of the first self-driving cars in the UK

I didn’t really think self-driving cars would ever arrive in the UK, so you can imagine my surprise when I found myself climbing into one of Wayve’s self-driving cars on a trip around north London a few weeks ago.

In June the company Announce Uber and Uber plan to begin trialling Level 4 of fully autonomous robotaxis in the capital as soon as 2026, part of Government plan to accelerate self-driving pilots before a wider rollout in late 2027. Alphabet-owned Waymo, which is now a fixture in US cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix, also has its eyes on London. Announcing plans For a fully driverless robotaxi service in 2026, one of its first efforts to expand outside the United States.

My doubts about whether self-driving cars will work in London are unfounded. On many levels, London is robo-taxis’ worst nightmare. At every possible turn, the city conflicts with self-government. Its road network is narrow, winding and difficult to navigate, a swamp of concrete that has emerged over centuries, and is designed for use by horses and carts, not cars. Narrow streets make avoiding obstacles — potholes, parked cars, you know — more difficult, and that’s before we even start considering the deluge of other vehicles, pedestrian drivers, tourists, cyclists, buses, taxis, and animals (like… Rogue military horses) Sharing the road. The less said about roundabouts or weather, the better.

Even if a robotaxi could successfully navigate London, it would need Londoners to have the technology as well. This may be difficult. We are a skeptical bunch, and when it comes to putting AI in cars; Surveys Rank The British are among the worst in the world. There were also a lot of The noise – and failure – that have surrounded the technology in the past, leaving a legacy of mistrust and disbelief that participants must dispel. There are special black cabs to contend with, and they are known to drive a hard bargain. When Uber first came on the scene, it was taxi drivers repeatedly London brought to a impasseAnd the group is Still at war with the ridesharing company today. However, they don’t seem to be too threatened this time, eviction Self-driving cars as a “fairground ride” and a “San Francisco tourist attraction.”

Wayve’s headquarters didn’t look like a San Francisco tourist attraction. A combination of unadorned brick and black metal fencing gives Wayve, which began life in a Cambridge garage in 2017 and is still led by co-founder Alex Kendall, the atmosphere of a random warehouse. Just 15 minutes away lies Kings Cross, an overhauled industrial wasteland now home to companies like Google and Meta, which many might consider a more traditional environment for a company that has raised more than a billion dollars from giants like Nvidia, Microsoft, and SoftBank (and is now… It is reportedly in talks to raise up to another $2 billion).

Its cars – a fleet of Ford Mustang Mach-Es – don’t look futuristic either. The only real giveaway they planned to replace human drivers with was a small box of sensors mounted above the windshield, a far cry from the intrusive humps atop Waymos.

Inside, it was completely normal. As we exited the Wayve complex, the only thing that really stood out was the big red emergency stop button on the center console, a reminder that, legally, a human driver needs to be ready to seize control at a moment’s notice. Had I not heard a sharp buzzing sound indicating that the robo-taxi had taken control of the vehicle, I don’t think I would have noticed that the driver had relinquished any control at all.

I handled the city well – much better than I expected. Within minutes, we left the quiet side streets near the Wavy base and joined a busier road. Weaving between parked cars and delivery vehicles, it slowed politely as food couriers cut in front of us on electric bikes, and thankfully did not crush any of the crossers who treated London’s crossings more like suggestions than rules.

The ride wasn’t exactly smooth, and there was nothing quite like the ethereal calm I felt when I took my first Waymo car in San Francisco this summer. Wayve was more hesitant than I’m used to, like when my sister took me out for the first time after getting her license a few years ago.

This reluctance is particularly strange in London. The friends, taxi drivers, bus drivers, and Uber drivers I rode with all seemed to exude a kind of impatient confidence, a sense of urgency that Wavy was completely lacking. I haven’t driven since I passed my test 15 years ago – tube It makes it very easy to do without in London – but its stops still manage to test my patience. We made our way through the high walls of Pentonville Prison in Islington, running after a cyclist whom I was sure I could pass safely, as any Londoner would certainly do.

I later learned that this hesitation is a feature, not a bug. Unlike Waymo — which uses a combination of detailed maps, rules, sensors, and AI to drive — Wayve uses a comprehensive AI model that allows it to drive in a generalizable way. In other words, Wayve drives more like a human than a machine. I definitely felt that way. I kept glancing at the safety driver’s hands, expecting to see them already regaining control. They never had. The other drivers seemed convinced as well. One of the police officers even raised his hand in thanks that we had left him space to turn into a gas station, although that was probably reserved for the safety driver.

In theory, this embodied AI approach means you could drop the Wayve anywhere and it will simply adapt, similar to the way a human driver might do when navigating an unfamiliar city. I’m not sure I’m ready to test this myself, but the team said they would Recently driven in the Scottish Highlands He returned safely.

I later learned that the company, targeting markets in Japan, Europe and North America, was traveling around the world on a plane Artificial intelligence “roadshow.” This year to test its technology in 500 unfamiliar cities. Knowing this, it seems like Wayve won’t need to put up with it so little Knowledgea series of tests of London’s black cab drivers to show that they have memorized thousands of streets and places, allowing them to navigate without GPS (it also makes… Scientists love their brains).

This approach means that the technology is also designed to respond to the world more flexibly and react in a more humane way to those unexpected scenarios and emergency situations that terrify self-driving car makers. On my trip, I did just that. Roadworks, learner drivers, groups of cyclists, London buses, even a person on crutches veering into the street – I dealt with all of them competently, if with more caution than a London driver might. The most unnerving moment came when a blind man with his cane stuck out between two parked cars – a scene I had to ask the company if it had been staged (it hadn’t) – but before I could react, the car had already slowed down and changed lanes.

By the time we got back to the Waifi compound, I realized I’d stopped wondering who was driving the car. It was just the repetition of the loud buzzer that signaled that our safety driver was back in control. My mind seems to have finally accepted autonomy, at least the London version of it. It’s a little rougher around the edges, less sci-fi, and more human. Perhaps this is the point.