Driverless cars are coming to London, at least for a trial run.
Uber and Chinese autonomous-vehicle company Pony.ai said Thursday they will begin testing Pony.ai's Gen-7 robotaxis on London streets in the coming weeks. The announcement is light on specifics: no date for when Londoners might actually hail one of these cars, no word on fares, and no detail on whether safety drivers will stay behind the wheel during testing. What is clear is that this builds on an existing Uber-Pony.ai partnership and extends it into a major European city for the first time.
The move puts London in the same conversation as the handful of US and Chinese cities where robotaxis have moved past pilot status. For Uber, teaming up with Pony.ai keeps its now-familiar strategy intact: rather than building its own self-driving stack, it lets autonomous-vehicle companies plug into its app and takes a cut. For Pony.ai, a London foothold is a chance to prove its tech works outside Chinese and US streets, in a city with narrow roads, roundabouts, and notoriously unpredictable weather.
Worth remembering: a testing announcement is not a launch. Robotaxi programs have a long history of multi-year gaps between "we're testing here" and "you can actually book a ride." London drivers and cyclists should expect to see a few Gen-7 cars on the road soon - just don't expect to flag one down anytime soon.