Several companies are now testing self-driving technology on British roads, and one supervised robotaxi service is already carrying passengers in London. Here is a round-up of where the main players stand as of 2 October 2026, using only what they or reputable outlets have published.

Wayve, with Uber

Wayve was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in London. Its “AI Driver” learns from driving experience rather than relying on detailed high-definition maps or hand-coded rules (Uber press release).

On 3 September 2026, Uber and Wayve launched the UK’s first public autonomous rides in London. Riders requesting an UberX, Uber Electric or Uber Comfort trip may be matched with an electric Ford Mustang Mach-E running Wayve’s AI Driver, at no extra cost. At launch the cars can go anywhere in London except airports. The service is supervised: a trained, TfL-licensed private hire driver is on board for every trip. The companies say the launch is the first step in a partnership to put Wayve-powered vehicles on Uber’s network in 12 markets worldwide (Uber press release). The BBC reported a starting fleet of 15 licensed vehicles, and its reporter’s safety driver took over once during a test ride (BBC News).

For a fully driverless service, The Guardian reports that Wayve plans to switch to a new Nissan Leaf vehicle. Its chief executive, Alex Kendall, told the Financial Times he did not want to put a timeline on it (The Guardian).

Waymo

Waymo, owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, already runs services without drivers in US cities such as San Francisco, Austin and Phoenix (BBC News). In October 2025 it said it intended to offer fully autonomous rides in London, “with no human behind the wheel”, in 2026, with Moove as its fleet operations partner (Waymo blog).

Its cars have been driving in London in test mode with a safety driver and staff on board, but are not yet open to the public. Waymo says it does not intend to run a service with a human at the wheel (BBC News). In August 2026 the company said it was working through the safety approval process with the Department for Transport and waiting for Transport for London’s guidance (The Guardian).

Baidu (Apollo Go)

China’s Baidu began testing vehicles in London at the end of July 2026 and has said it plans to launch public rides next year (The Guardian).

Oxa

Oxa, a British company, develops self-driving software. The government noted in 2025 that Oxa had supported bus-like services in the US and had begun rolling out self-driving vehicles at Heathrow Airport for baggage handling (GOV.UK).

Tesla

Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving (Supervised)” software is, despite its name, a driver assistance system. When the Dutch vehicle authority RDW approved it for use in the Netherlands on 10 April 2026, it stated that a vehicle using the system “is not self-driving” and that the driver remains responsible and must always stay in control (RDW).

Several other EU countries have since recognised the Dutch approval. An EU-wide decision is not expected before December 2026 at the earliest (electrive). Great Britain is outside the EU and has its own type approval body, the Vehicle Certification Agency (DfT guidance). At the time of writing we are not aware of any approval for the system’s use in Great Britain.

Tesla has also begun producing the Cybercab, a two-seat vehicle designed without a steering wheel or pedals, at its Texas factory. Elon Musk said in April 2026 that initial production would be “very slow” before ramping up (Quartz). It is not available in the UK.

Our website mentions vehicles like the Cybercab only as an example of the purpose-built vehicles being developed. We haven’t chosen a vehicle supplier, and YA Transit is not affiliated with Tesla or any other manufacturer.

What this tells us

Three patterns stand out. London is going first. Supervised services, with a trained person on board, come before fully driverless ones. And every operator still needs approvals that, as of late August 2026, nobody had yet received for driverless passenger services (The Guardian). For York, Leeds and Manchester, that points to a later start. We look at the timeline in When will driverless taxis come to York, Leeds and Manchester?

YA Transit is a pre-launch company and is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any of the companies mentioned in this article.

Sources

  1. Uber: Wayve and Uber launch first-ever autonomous rides in the UK (3 September 2026)
  2. BBC News: Uber launches UK’s first robotaxis with a driver (3 September 2026)
  3. The Guardian: London rollout of robotaxis delayed amid lack of guidance for firms to follow (26 August 2026)
  4. Waymo: Hello London! Your Waymo ride is arriving (15 October 2025)
  5. GOV.UK: Pilots of self-driving vehicles fast-tracked (10 June 2025)
  6. RDW: Explanation of European type approval Tesla with provisional validity in the Netherlands (10 April 2026)
  7. electrive: EU vote on Tesla FSD not expected before December (28 September 2026)
  8. Quartz: Tesla is starting production of its Cybercab robotaxi (April 2026)
  9. GOV.UK: Automated passenger service permits: local authority and transport body roles

All sources checked on 2 October 2026. Things are moving quickly; if you spot something out of date, email hello@yatransit.co.uk.