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# London's robotaxi rollout is delayed past the spring start the government set
- URL: https://www.metatalks.ai/london-robotaxi-rollout-unlikely-this-year-as-tfl-rules-stay-unpublished/
- Published: 2026-08-27T14:01:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-27T14:01:00.000Z
- Author: Al
- Tags: News, Physical AI, #newswire

**Transport for London has not published the rules a company must meet, and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has approved no driverless vehicles.**

In early August Uber and the London firm Wayve were [cleared to sell self-driving rides](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/05/self-driving-taxis-approved-london-summer-2026-wayve-uber?ref=metatalks.ai) to paying passengers, and more than 100,000 Londoners have joined the waiting list. The licences cover 15 Ford Mustang Mach-Es running Wayve's software, with a private hire driver at the wheel to intervene while the software drives.

The government expected driverless service by now. In 2025 the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, brought the start of commercial trials of fully driverless taxis forward by a year, to the spring just past.

TfL's director of strategy, Christina Calderato, told the London assembly in July that applications would not be [accepted for some time](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/26/london-rollout-robotaxis-delayed-uber-wayve?ref=metatalks.ai). “I do not think we are in a rush to get \[the guidelines\] out,” she said.

Wayve's chief executive, Alex Kendall, said the company never claimed it would run without a driver this year. “London is a significant step up in complexity compared to Phoenix or San Francisco,” he told the Financial Times.

Two rivals are already in the city. Waymo is waiting on the same TfL guidance and aiming to run fully autonomously by the end of the year; Baidu's Apollo Go began testing in July, with public rides planned for next year.

Zagreb became the first European city to carry public autonomous rides this month, through Uber and still with someone on board to watch, and Waymo said this week it will start commercial operations in Munich late next year. Robotaxis already carry passengers in more than 20 cities across the United States, China and the Middle East.