Driverless cars are already out and about in London, doing their own version of the The Knowledge ahead of a launch of commercial “robotaxi” services which could come as soon as September if the powerful companies behind the new technology have their way.
But to start plying for hire, they will need the consent of Transport for London. And that’s not a done deal, the London Assembly’s transport committee heard yesterday. The opportunities presented by autonomous vehicles (AVs) remained “unproven”, said Sir Sadiq Khan’s transport deputy Seb Dance, while TfL chief Andy Lord (pictured) told assembly members (AMs) that AVs “would have to meet our current private hire regulatory requirements, and no driverless vehicle would comply as it stands.”
AV companies with their eyes on the capital, including London-based Wayve, backed by Microsoft and Uber, and Californian heavyweight Waymo, owned by Google parent Alphabet, have made much of how safe their product is; – it doesn’t drink, sticks to the speed limits, never gets tired. But an “awful lot of work” needed to be done, said Dance, to determine whether AV technology would offer a “a net benefit on safety”.
There are wider fears too. AVs might be an alternative to private car use, but a proliferation of robotaxis could also increase congestion and pollution levels, the committee heard. Private hire numbers were already heading towards “unsustainable” levels, Lord said, with some 130,000 minicabs registered and no government action to cap numbers or curb “cross-border hiring”, whereby drivers and vehicles licensed elsewhere are currently allowed to operate in London without necessarily meeting the capital’s regulatory standards.
Concerns were also raised around accessibility, security and safeguarding as well the impact on the livelihoods of current taxi and private hire drivers. These are under “massive threat” according to Liberal Democrat AM Hina Bokhari. The Mayor’s recently-launched AI taskforce would be considering those implications for the city, Dance confirmed. He also promised continued support for London’s “iconic” black cab fleet. “The black cab is a strong symbol of the city and we are very, very keen that it remains so,” he said.
The chief executive of private hire company Addison Lee, Liam Griffin, has this week warned in the Financial Times that current drivers’ livelihoods could be “on the line”. He called for a minimum price to be fixed to prevent “predatory pricing” and for the number of permits for AV taxis to be limited “in the first instance”.
Green AM Caroline Russell asked if TfL could actually block AV passenger services. In his reply, Lord seemed confident: “My understanding is that they will have to meet the current regulatory requirements. We do have the powers, if they do not meet those standards, to refuse them a licence,” he said.
It’s not straightforward, though. The Automated Vehicles Act 2024 provides the broad legal framework for AVs to operate within, but also contains provisions to “disapply” current licensing rules enforced by local licensing authorities. Robotaxi permits would effectively be issued by the government, through the national Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, albeit requiring the consent of the local authority – TfL in the case of London.
With the details of the new AV licensing scheme yet to be set out in secondary legislation and the government keen to embrace the new technology, the way that TfL veto might actually work in practice is still in contention, with some hard-talking clearly going on behind the scenes. “It’s going to need a lot of interaction between us and central government,” said Dance, while Lord warned that stronger regulatory powers at Whitehall level risked “cutting across” the capital’s existing devolved responsibilities.
Mayor Khan made his own position clear in December: “While we want London to be the global capital of innovation, enterprise and creativity, this must not be at the expense of jobs and livelihoods, and I am committed to working with industry and unions to ensure this technology is introduced in a way that works for all Londoners. TfL must consent before APS [automated passenger service] permits can be issued in London and this consent would be based on APS permit applications supporting the objectives of my transport strategy.”
Whether that requirement can be satisfied, given the strategy’s focus on “active travel” – on foot, by cycle or on public transport – and more efficient use of the capital’s road space, remains an open question, according to a recent intervention by Glenn Lyons, Professor of Future Mobility at the University of the West of England.
It shouldn’t “just be about safety…but the wider question of how to ensure driverless vehicles deliver societal impact that is acceptable and beneficial”, he said, suggesting that safety improvements might rely on “constraining pedestrian behaviour” through US-style “jaywalking” rules, or corralling cyclists. “Perish the thought that we look back and realise we were asking what London can do for robotaxis rather than asking what robotaxis can do for London,” he concluded.
Follow Charles Wright on Bluesky. Watch the transport committee meeting in full here.
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