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American company Waymo has announced that its self-driving vehicles will be on offer for booking on London's streets beginning next year.

London Becomes Leading European City for Autonomous Cab Service.

London will be established as the first European city to introduce an driverless taxi service, comparable with those currently operational in multiple US cities and several American urban centers employing Waymo's advanced platform.

Initial Testing Phase to Commence with Human Specialists.

Waymo announced that its fleet are now traveling to London and will begin operating on the capital's public roads in the next few weeks with trained human specialists behind the wheel.

Waymo – originally formed as a offshoot from the tech giant's self-driving car project and belonging to the Alphabet family – indicated it would increase operations and partner with the UK transport authorities and London's transport agency to secure the essential permissions to provide fully autonomous services by 2026.

Expanding Presence in Autonomous Mobility Across London.

Further firms, including Uber and the UK-based technology firm Wayve, have likewise revealed their own plans to trial autonomous cabs in the city next year.

This comes after the UK authorities confirming it would speed up rules permitting public testing to proceed before regulation allowing autonomous cars becomes law in full.

“I'm delighted that Waymo aims to bring their technology to London next year, under our proposed piloting scheme,” commented the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander.

“Supporting the autonomous vehicle industry will improve accessible transport options alongside bringing work, capital, and possibilities to the UK. Innovative support like this will assist in achieving our objective to be global pioneers in new technology and spearhead countrywide development.”

Comprehensive Rollout Expected After New Legislation Takes Effect.

A more extensive deployment of driverless cabs is projected in the UK after the related legislation fully takes effect in late 2027.

Waymo's Established Presence in the United Kingdom and Internationally.

Waymo presently has links to Britain after opening its inaugural European research base in Oxford in 2019.

The company is additionally starting offerings in Tokyo using Jaguar Land Rover electric vehicles, marking its second existing operation outside the United States.

“Our experience shows how to responsibly scale totally self-driving ride-hailing, and we look forward to expand the benefits of our technology to the Britain,” stated the company executive, adding that the system was “making roads safer and transportation more accessible”.

Proven History in the United States.

Waymo began its self-driving cabs in 2020 and now claims it has served more than a vast number of riders in the United States.

Despite some concerning incidents, Waymo stated that statistics revealed that vehicles driven by humans were linked to incidents that harmed walkers at a much higher rate than its autonomous fleet.