TfL approves 15-vehicle supervised robocab trial after Assembly poll finds 42% opposed

Transport for London has approved a supervised robocab service run by Uber and Wayve, allowing up to 15 vehicles for a one-year trial, the London Assembly Transport Committee said on 5 August.

Caroline Russell AM, who chairs the committee, said: "The approval for up to 15 vehicles on a trial basis for a year, is not entirely unexpected."

The vehicles will not drive themselves. The committee's statement says the service will start with a licensed private hire driver at the wheel rather than in fully autonomous mode.

The public record does not show how 15 vehicles compares with the size of London's licensed private hire fleet. TfL's taxi and private hire licensing page and its publications page for the trade carry rules, guidance and fare orders, and no licensing totals.

The approval came three weeks after the committee published its own polling. YouGov questioned 1,053 Londoners between 12 and 19 June, weighting the answers to represent London's adult population.

The survey found 42% opposed the use of autonomous passenger vehicles in London and 29% supported it. Some 29% said they would be likely to use one if available, and 17% trusted the companies to collect and analyse personal data.

Asked what worried them, 48% cited the vehicles' response to emergencies, 41% road danger and 39% technical failure.

Russell said of the findings: "The strength of opposition is concerning, and we believe the Department for Transport and Transport for London should sit up and take our survey results seriously."

TfL did not take the licensing decision. The committee's meeting notice of 13 July states that TfL is a "consenting authority" rather than a licensing authority, and that the DVSA holds licensing authority on behalf of the Transport Secretary.

The same notice says local traffic authorities such as TfL and the boroughs consider "local impacts and suitability".

The committee questioned TfL on the subject at City Hall on 14 July, before the consent was given. Christina Calderato, TfL's director of strategy, and Danny Price, its director of sponsored services and regulatory compliance, were asked about regulation, road safety, cybersecurity, accessibility, jobs and congestion, and whether such services match the Mayor's Transport Strategy targets.

TfL has not announced the consent itself. Its press release index, checked on 14 August, runs from cycleways on 12 August back to the fare freeze on 3 July, with nothing on autonomous vehicles, Uber or Wayve.

The committee took evidence for its investigation from industry experts, operators, taxi and private hire representatives, TfL and the Department for Transport, and studied experience from San Francisco and Oslo.

Russell said 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". The committee said it will publish recommendations within weeks; the trial runs for a year.