London has entered a new chapter in public transport after self-driving taxis began carrying passengers on the capital\u2019s roads, marking one of the most significant steps yet towards the commercial use of autonomous vehicles in Britain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The service, launched by ride-hailing company Uber in partnership with British autonomous-driving technology firm Wayve, allows selected passengers to travel in vehicles capable of navigating London streets using artificial intelligence and an array of sensors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the taxis are not yet operating completely without human supervision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A trained safety driver remains behind the wheel during journeys and can take control if required, meaning the current operation represents supervised autonomous driving rather than a fully driverless taxi service<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Small Fleet Begins London Operations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The initial rollout involves fewer than 20 electric Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicles equipped with Wayve\u2019s autonomous-driving system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Passengers do not need a separate application to use the service. The vehicles are being integrated into Uber\u2019s existing platform, meaning eligible customers may be matched with an autonomous vehicle when requesting a normal journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With only a limited number currently operating, most London passengers will continue to receive conventional vehicles driven by private-hire drivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The significance of Thursday\u2019s launch, however, extends far beyond the size of the initial fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It provides an opportunity to test autonomous vehicles in one of Europe\u2019s largest and most complicated urban transport environments while carrying members of the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why London Is a Major Test<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n London presents autonomous-driving developers with conditions considerably different from controlled testing environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The capital\u2019s roads regularly bring vehicles into close contact with pedestrians, cyclists, buses, motorcycles and delivery vehicles, while roadworks, narrow streets and complicated junctions create additional challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wayve\u2019s technology is designed to use artificial intelligence to interpret those changing conditions and determine how a vehicle should respond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The British-founded company has spent years developing autonomous-driving technology and has positioned London as an important environment in which to demonstrate whether AI-based driving systems can cope with complex real-world traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For now, the safety driver provides an additional layer of protection while the technology is being introduced to paying passengers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not Completely Driverless Yet<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The distinction between a self-driving vehicle<\/strong> and a fully driverless commercial taxi<\/strong> is important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite some descriptions of the launch as the arrival of \u201cdriverless taxis\u201d, a human remains inside the driver\u2019s position during the current phase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That person is responsible for monitoring the vehicle and intervening when necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A future service in which autonomous taxis carry passengers without a safety driver would represent a substantially greater technological and regulatory step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The current launch should therefore be viewed as the beginning of London\u2019s transition towards autonomous passenger transport rather than the immediate arrival of completely unmanned taxis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n what happens to professional drivers if autonomous vehicles eventually no longer require someone behind the wheel?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For the moment, the impact is limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The autonomous fleet is tiny compared with the thousands of conventional taxis and private-hire vehicles operating across London, and the new vehicles themselves still require safety drivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the economics could change considerably if companies are eventually permitted to operate large fleets without drivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Labour costs represent a significant part of conventional taxi and private-hire operations. Removing the requirement for a driver could eventually alter fares, operating costs and employment across the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those consequences are likely to become increasingly important as Britain develops regulations governing autonomous passenger services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Safety Remains the Central Question<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The success or failure of London\u2019s experiment will ultimately depend on safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Autonomous vehicles must be capable of dealing not only with predictable traffic rules but also with unpredictable human behaviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A pedestrian suddenly entering the road, a cyclist moving between lanes or another motorist making an unexpected manoeuvre can require an immediate response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n London provides plenty of all three, because apparently straightforward traffic would be asking too much of civilisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The performance of the vehicles during this supervised phase could therefore influence public confidence and future decisions by regulators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Bigger Story Has Only Just Started<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For Londoners, Thursday\u2019s launch is unlikely to transform daily travel immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A fleet of fewer than 20 vehicles will have little measurable impact on a city where millions of journeys are made every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the number of cars currently operating may be the least important part of the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bigger question is whether today\u2019s supervised vehicles eventually become tomorrow\u2019s genuinely driverless taxis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the technology proves safe, regulators approve wider deployment and passengers accept travelling without a human driver, London\u2019s private-hire industry could look very different within the coming years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For now, humans remain behind the wheel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But for the first time, they are sharing that responsibility with artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" London has taken a major step towards autonomous transport as Uber and Wayve begin carrying passengers in self-driving taxis, although human safety drivers remain behind the wheel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ghanapunch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ghanapunch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ghanapunch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ghanapunch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ghanapunch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1095"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ghanapunch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1097,"href":"https:\/\/ghanapunch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1095\/revisions\/1097"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ghanapunch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ghanapunch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ghanapunch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ghanapunch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}