Uber, Wayve launch London's first robotaxi service

The rollout makes Wayve the first company to launch a robotaxi service to the public in London. — AFP

LONDON : Uber and British start-up Wayve launched their commercial robotaxi service in London on Sept 3, although passengers will still have a human supervisor behind the wheel.

"It's going to be a phased deployment, so we're going to start off small," Wendy Lee, head of product at Uber, told AFP, adding that the number of vehicles will be "in the order of dozens to start".

The rollout makes Wayve the first company to launch a robotaxi service to the public in London, ahead of rivals Waymo, owned by Google-parent Alphabet, and China's Baidu, which has partnered with Lyft.

Autonomous taxis are already operating in the United States and China, but London is only the second city in Europe to have them, after Zagreb, where Croatian company Verne operates the service using technology from China's Pony.ai, with a supervisor on board for safety.

During a demonstration in London for AFP on Sept 2, an operator briefly took back control of the vehicle at an intersection near Big Ben.

"This is exactly why we start with safety operators behind the wheel. It's to ensure that people are safe when they're driving," said Kaity Fischer, head of business development at Wayve.

It remains unclear when Uber and Wayve will launch fully autonomous taxis, with both companies unable to give an exact date.

Waymo told AFP that it intends to launch vehicles carrying passengers "with nobody behind the wheel by the end of the year, subject to government approval".

Lyft, which plans to launch a service with Baidu's Apollo Go in 2027, said it is waiting for guidance from London's transport authority, Transport for London (TfL), on the issue.

The guidelines should be issued "shortly," according to TfL, which added that no operator has yet begun the approval process for fully autonomous vehicles.

Wayve and Uber currently have safety authorisation for 15 supervised vehicles.

In London, where the fares will initially be the same as for regular Uber rides, the launch marks Wayve's first mass-market rollout.

Wayve plans to expand next to Tokyo and then to 10 more cities with Uber, according to Fischer. – AFP

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此次推出使Wayve成为首家在伦敦向公众推出自动驾驶出租车服务的公司。——法新社

伦敦：Uber 和英国初创公司 Wayve 于 9 月 3 日在伦敦推出了商业机器人出租车服务，不过乘客仍然会由一名人类驾驶员陪同。

Uber 产品负责人 Wendy Lee 告诉法新社：“这将是一个分阶段的部署，所以我们会从小规模开始。”她还补充说，车辆数量“一开始将在几十辆左右”。

此次推出使 Wayve 成为第一家在伦敦向公众推出机器人出租车服务的公司，领先于其竞争对手 Waymo（谷歌母公司 Alphabet 旗下公司）和与 Lyft 合作的中国百度。

自动驾驶出租车已在美国和中国投入运营，但伦敦是继萨格勒布之后，欧洲第二个拥有这项服务的城市。在萨格勒布，克罗地亚公司 Verne 使用中国 Pony.ai 的技术运营这项服务，车上配备一名监督员以确保安全。

9 月 2 日，在伦敦为法新社进行的一次演示中，一名操作员在大本钟附近的一个十字路口短暂地夺回了车辆的控制权。

“这正是我们首先安排安全员驾驶车辆的原因。这是为了确保人们在驾驶时的安全，”Wayve 业务发展主管 Kaity Fischer 说。

目前尚不清楚 Uber 和 Wayve 何时推出全自动驾驶出租车，两家公司都无法给出确切日期。

Waymo告诉法新社，该公司计划在年底前推出载客车辆，“但需获得政府批准”。

Lyft 计划于 2027 年与百度的 Apollo Go 合作推出一项服务，该公司表示正在等待伦敦交通局（伦敦交通局）就此问题给出指导意见。

伦敦交通局表示，相关指南应该“很快”就会发布。该机构还补充说，目前还没有任何运营商开始申请全自动驾驶车辆的审批流程。

Wayve 和 Uber 目前已获得 15 辆受监管车辆的安全授权。

在伦敦，Wayve 的车费最初将与 Uber 的常规乘车费用相同，此次推出标志着 Wayve 首次面向大众市场推出。

据费舍尔透露，Wayve计划在东京之后，再与Uber合作拓展至另外10个城市。——法新社

Waymo宣布将于2027年在慕尼黑推出无人驾驶出租车，进一步拓展欧洲市场。

特斯拉预告即将推出Cyber​​cab“无人驾驶出租车”

Alphabet旗下的Waymo为其无人驾驶出租车定制了一款芯片。

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