The American company Uber Technologies, together with the British startup Wayve, which is engaged in the development of autonomous driving technologies, announced the launch of tests of fully self-driving cars on public roads in London. About this informs BBC.
Before testing begins, Wayve and Uber will work with the UK government and Transport for London, the transport authority responsible for organizing traffic in the city, to obtain the necessary permits.
“London and other UK cities are challenging driving environments with significantly different road layouts and traffic laws compared to the locations in the US where most of the global testing has been conducted so far. So the lessons learned from the UK experience will be an important step forward in development of autonomous driving technology for deployment in cities around the world”, – says the company’s press release.
The companies have not yet specified a date for the start of testing in the UK, but have promised to release more details in the near future. British Transport Minister Heidi Alexander emphasized that the government is accelerating the implementation of autonomous transport pilot programs and aims to launch the first such projects in the spring of 2026.
On the news, Uber shares rose 0.8% in the previous trading session on Tuesday. Since the beginning of the year, the company’s market capitalization has increased by 44% to $182 billion, while the S\&P 500 index has added only 2%.
