self driving vehicle on UK motorways in 2023

[The Spin Doctor]

Waymo taxis in London from September.

Perhaps

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czej9n578k9o

Waymo, the US driverless car firm, said it hopes to be operating a robotaxi service in London as soon as September this year.

The UK government has said it plans to change regulations in the second half of 2026 to enable driverless taxis to operate in the city but has not given a specific date.

Waymo said a pilot service will launch in April and Local Transport Minister Lilian Greenwood said: "We're supporting Waymo and other operators through our passenger pilots, and pro-innovation regulations to make self-driving cars a reality on British roads."

Apparently they started on-road testing in September 2025.

.Screenshot_20260128-185818.png

Saw one on the Euston Road last week.

[Horse]

Borrowed from LinkedIn

Alan Moore was in Sacramento, California at the CHP Academy last week to teach Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, or ADAS, to the CHP MAIT teams. Part of the class was the live testing of automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems on various vehicles, including a 2023 Jeep Wagoneer. Alan provided a foam car target, as well as cardboard stand-ins for pedestrian testing.

Fun fact! After 4 AEB engagements, the Wagoneer apparently turns off AEB without notification warnings on the dashboard letting the driver know AEB was disengaged. Guess how we found out?

We also confirmed with the assistance of a CHP EVOC instructor that a Tesla will not pull over for a law enforcement vehicle (note for all of these, I don't know the software version in the Tesla, but I believe it was recent). It will, however, accelerate when the law enforcement vehicle rapidly closes from behind. In our test the Tesla accelerated from ~24 mph to ~35 mph as the patrol car raced to catch up.

Also tested:
A Tesla won't recognize a single traffic cone.
Three traffic cones placed transversely across a lane to close the lane are recognized, and the Tesla drives around them. Both of these seem to pose a problem for construction zones.

Alan did confirm a Tesla will follow a traffic cone taper closing a lane.

A Tesla won't recognize a pedestrian lying down when in full-self driving (FSD) mode.

The Tesla did stop when facing the foam car and the accelerator was put to the floor, showing Teslas will try to prevent unintented acceleration into an obstacle it recognizes (always the key item!)

[Skub]

Mathematician Hannah Fry's programme last night on self drive cars was less than reassuring....

[Horse]

Mathematician Hannah Fry's programme last night on self drive cars was less than reassuring....

About 11-12 years ago I attended a briefing session given by an organisation developing autonomous vehicles.

Q&A at the end.

Q from the audience (which included police and council staff of areas local to on-road trials):

"Can your systems recognise traffic lights?"

A: Current version of software, no. But the next will."

At that point I:
a. Wondered how the next software would react to a kid holding a green balloon?
b. Thought "This ain't happening any time soon."

IMHO True fully autonomous, go anywhere, cars will never be available. But taxi / shuttle services, in limited areas, will

eg: You're running a stall at the church fete. Get your car to drive into a field through a gateway, park where a harassed-looking person tells you. Then, later, when it's pissed down, negotiate the mud to go home. All without running anyone over in the process.

[Cousin Jack]

Based on recent experience with 'driver assist' features on real roads, true self driving cars that can cope with UK roads are several decades away. Far from assisting, the features are at best a distraction and occasionally actually try to kill you.

[iansoady]

BBC showed a 2017 Horizon programme re self driving cars the other evening. All the industry bods reckoned we'd have full level 5 by 2021......

[Noggin]

Given that driver "aids" in a modern bus emergency brake a 19tn vehicle when it's briefly facing a traffic sign in the process of making a legal turn that needs the bus to use a bit more space than a car (FFS) I can't see how they can make a car be completely autonomous any time soon

[Dickyboy]

Saw one on the Euston Road last week.

Saw one being driven on New Kent Road this morning.

Did anyone see the BBC A I Confidential on self driving cars? Bloody scary the first iterations

I imagine us cheeky Brits will find all sorts of ways of disabling the waymo cars & they'll start causing havoc in narrow London streets - even more reason to go by bike

[iansoady]

Yes, seen the first 2 BBC2 programmes. The court case was interesting, as was the footage from the uber prior to hitting the woman pushing the bike. I have to say that in the "driver"'s defence that it would have been quite hard to see the ped anyway but surely that should actually be one of the advantages of self driving! It didn't help that she was watching TV at the time.

It looked as though people were using gaffer tape to cover some of the sensors. I seem to remember that putting a traffic cone on the bonnet confused the poor things as well.

[Dodgy69]

Do you need a license to drive a self driver. ?

[asmethurst99]

Given that driver "aids" in a modern bus emergency brake a 19tn vehicle when it's briefly facing a traffic sign in the process of making a legal turn that needs the bus to use a bit more space than a car (FFS) I can't see how they can make a car be completely autonomous any time soon

Our leaf brakes at odd moments -its really quite annoying.
If I could be bothered i,d read the manual but I only drive it one or 2 times a week - Must be irritating in a coach.

[Count Steer]

Do you need a license to drive a self driver. ?

You don't/won't need one to be a passenger in a self-drive taxi eg Waymo (the ones in London currently are supposed to have a 'caretaker' aboard while testing).

Can't see why it would be any different in any fully autonomous vehicle...if they ever happen here...and are successful. Might work in Milton Keynes.

Might have to ensure that the vehicle only operates in autonomous mode though to stop people driving when they shouldn't.

Might need a dummy at the 'wheel' to make people feel less anxious too.



PS Factoid #0.00017 Johnny was voiced by Robert Picardo - fittingly, also the holo-doctor on Startrek Voyager.

[Cousin Jack]

Today my Togota scared the shit out of me. Nosing into a parking space with a big wall in front. I thought I was approaching it cautiously and was fully aware that I needed to brake. Car decided it knew better, emitted a LOUD klaxon noise, put a big red 'Brake!' banner across most of the screen, and slammed on the brakes itself. I thought I had fcuked up and got out to check the damage. Still 3 feet clear of the wall.

I think I shall buy a classic car.

[ZRX61]

The fact that most captchas are based on robots not being able to identify bikes or traffic lights doesn't fill me with confidence for self-driving cars...

In related news, They've come up with self driving taxis here that lack a steering wheel & pedals etc. A human can't drive them..
Problem: vehicles without controls for humans aren't road legal in the US...

[ZRX61]

Today my Togota scared the shit out of me. Nosing into a parking space with a big wall in front. I thought I was approaching it cautiously and was fully aware that I needed to brake. Car decided it knew better, emitted a LOUD klaxon noise, put a big red 'Brake!' banner across most of the screen, and slammed on the brakes itself. I thought I had fcuked up and got out to check the damage. Still 3 feet clear of the wall.

I think I shall buy a classic car.

The ST will do that, but when the car ahead is braking to turn off. My brain realizes the car won't be there by the time the ST arrives at the side road, but the ST thinks I'm going to smash into it which causes the dash to light up like Blackpool seafront.

[Skub]

Today my Togota scared the shit out of me. Nosing into a parking space with a big wall in front. I thought I was approaching it cautiously and was fully aware that I needed to brake. Car decided it knew better, emitted a LOUD klaxon noise, put a big red 'Brake!' banner across most of the screen, and slammed on the brakes itself. I thought I had fcuked up and got out to check the damage. Still 3 feet clear of the wall.

I think I shall buy a classic car.

Try it faster to see how quickly it reacts. Video and report back.

[Cousin Jack]

Today my Togota scared the shit out of me. Nosing into a parking space with a big wall in front. I thought I was approaching it cautiously and was fully aware that I needed to brake. Car decided it knew better, emitted a LOUD klaxon noise, put a big red 'Brake!' banner across most of the screen, and slammed on the brakes itself. I thought I had fcuked up and got out to check the damage. Still 3 feet clear of the wall.

I think I shall buy a classic car.

Try it faster to see how quickly it reacts. Video and report back.

That would be the time it said "OK, do what you like".

[MyLittleStudPony]

Today my Togota scared the shit out of me. Nosing into a parking space with a big wall in front. I thought I was approaching it cautiously and was fully aware that I needed to brake. Car decided it knew better, emitted a LOUD klaxon noise, put a big red 'Brake!' banner across most of the screen, and slammed on the brakes itself. I thought I had fcuked up and got out to check the damage. Still 3 feet clear of the wall.

I think I shall buy a classic car.

I think my Toyota (2019 vintage) can do that too but it's turned off in the menus. I'm not inclined to turn it back on.

It still very occasionally picks something up and does the" BRAKE" on the console and loud noise thing but it doesn't apply the brakes.

[wheelnut]

Today my Togota scared the shit out of me. Nosing into a parking space with a big wall in front. I thought I was approaching it cautiously and was fully aware that I needed to brake. Car decided it knew better, emitted a LOUD klaxon noise, put a big red 'Brake!' banner across most of the screen, and slammed on the brakes itself. I thought I had fcuked up and got out to check the damage. Still 3 feet clear of the wall.

I think I shall buy a classic car.

Mine does that too - normally when I’m reversing into the drive and it thinks I’m heading towards the wall. It jams the brakes on that violently you think you’ve hit the wall.

[MrLongbeard]

In related news, They've come up with self driving taxis here that lack a steering wheel & pedals etc. A human can't drive them..
Problem: vehicles without controls for humans aren't road legal in the US...

Someone should tell Zoox who appear to be operating in Vegas with such a design.

https://zoox.com/journal/las-vegas/