Uber launches self-driving rides in London with Wayve-powered Ford Mustang Mach-Es

03 September 2026 , 11:24

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From today, Uber customers could be offered a self-driving vehicle when booking their rides, with 15 Ford Mustang Mach-E cars fitted with Wayve’s AI driver entering service.

Eligible riders requesting UberX, Comfort, or Electric in London could be matched with an autonomous vehicle at no extra cost.

For now, each vehicle has a TfL-licensed private hire driver on board to monitor and take over manually if needed.

Riders are told in the app when they’ve been matched with an autonomous vehicle and must opt in/accept the trip knowing it will be autonomous.

When the vehicle arrives, riders may need to unlock the vehicle in the app, then press Start trip to begin.

A Wayve vehicle during a demonstration of self-driving journeys at Wayve Headquarters in north London qhxidiqxkiqruinv

Announcing the move, Kaity Fischer, Wayve’s VP of Commercial and Operations, said: "Autonomous vehicles are a matter of when, not if.

"That’s the part that I think is just this really— this next monumental and exciting milestone."

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told LBC: This is a really significant moment because Wayve is a technology trailblazer here in the UK, and they’re at the forefront of driving innovation in the transport sector.

"And I think the deployment of this new technology on London’s roads is going to give passengers more choice, and it’s a big potential growth industry too. So whilst I think there’s always going to be an important role for taxi and private hire drivers in our capital city for many years to come, I think this could see new investment in the UK and could bring new jobs connected with that investment too."

Despite Uber and Wayve’s ambition to create a "hybrid" system which incorporates both human drivers and autonomous vehicles, many of London’s iconic cabbies are unconvinced.

A Waymo self-driving car in central London.

Speaking to LBC, one said he had already seen the vehicles making errors on the road when they were trialled in recent months.

They said: "You know, I’ve seen them already go one way up one-way streets. One was going up Haymarket the wrong way."

Another suggested that he welcomed the roll-out of the new tech, saying he hopes it would expose problems with autonomous vehicles.

He told LBC: "I can’t wait to see it. I think it’s going to be hilarious. They’re going to be basically a sat nav without a driver".

But one driver was not so jocular, with one admitting he was fearing for his job.

Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander described it as a "really significant" moment.

He bluntly told Natasha Clark: "If I was a young man, I wouldn’t be looking forward and thinking, I’m going to become a black cab driver. Because there’s robot cars."

Christina Calderato, the Director of Transport Strategy and Policy at TfL, admitted that driverless cars without a private hire cabbie inside were the next step, and said the cars have passed their strict safety tests.

She told LBC: "We do know that driverless vehicles without a PHV [private hire vehicle] driver in there are also coming, and we are preparing for that.

"Now, we’re working very closely with those operators. We’re working with Government to make sure that we’ve got all the right processes in place."