What it's like to ride in Uber's new self-driving taxis in London - BBC News BBC Homepage Skip to content Accessibility Help Your account Home News Sport Earth Reel Worklife Travel Culture Future Music TV Weather Sounds More menu More menu Search BBC Home News Sport Earth Reel Worklife Travel Culture Future Music TV Weather Sounds Close menu BBC News Menu Home Climate World UK Business Tech Science Entertainment & Arts Health In Pictures More BBC Verify Newsbeat Tech Uber launches UK's first robotaxis with a driver - here's what it's like to ride in one To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This video can not be played Figure caption, Watch: BBC travels in self-driving Uber around London By Zoe Kleinman , technology & AI editor  and  Philippa Wain , senior technology producer Published 3 September 2026 Londoners are able to hail the UK's first robotaxis - as Uber today becomes the first company to launch a self-driving minicab. Initially, it only has 15 autonomous vehicles with a licence to operate in the city, and each one must have a human safety driver behind the wheel ready to take control if anything goes wrong. Uber said it surveyed London-based customers via the app and more than 100,000 said they would choose a self-driving taxi if one was available, despite incidents of driverless rides malfunctioning in US cities where they already operate. As I found out when I became the first UK journalist to hail one, it was mostly smooth but the safety driver did intervene on one occasion. At the moment the UK fare for a robotaxi ride will be the same fare as a standard UberX, Uber Electric, or Uber Comfort journey, with upfront fares shown in the app. Taking a self-driving ride will only appear as an option in the app after the journey has been booked, and if one of its cars is available nearby. Uber's global head of autonomous mobility and delivery Sarfraz Maredia said the plan was to phase them in over a period of several years. "We