Transport Committee responds to TfL approval of supervised robocab service in London

In response to the news that Uber and Wayve have been given TfL approval for a supervised robocab service in London, Chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee, Caroline Russell AM, said:

"The approval for up to 15 vehicles on a trial basis for a year, is not entirely unexpected.

"The London Assembly Transport Committee has been investigating the proposed rollout of autonomous passenger vehicles in depth for the past few months.  We’ve spoken to industry experts, operators, representatives from the Taxi & Private Hire industries, Transport for London and the Department for Transport and we discussed the international experience of San Franciso and Oslo with experts from those cities.

"Uber and Wayve had been clear they would start by operating with a licenced private hire driver at the wheel, without actually operating in fully autonomous mode. 

"The Committee still has many questions about the safeguarding of passengers, so we would not be expecting TfL to give consent at this stage for full autonomous operation.  Those concerns and recommendations will be published in our report, which is due out in the next few weeks."