Waymo is blaming ‘human error’ after self-driving vehicles took electric taxi charging points reserved for London’s black cabs.

According to The Telegraph, London’s taxi drivers have clashed with Waymo after its vehicles were found taking up electric charging bays reserved for black cabs.

Taxi groups said there had been multiple cases of Waymo’s electric vehicles using dedicated e-taxi points, leading to intervention by TfL. Industry representatives said that taxi drivers had resorted to cancelling the self-driving cars’ charging sessions.

Steve McNamara, of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association, said he was aware of a handful of incidents and claimed that in at least one case a taxi driver had pressed a cancel button on the charge point.

“I share the frustration. It’s the equivalent of me parking cabs on petrol pumps and saying you can’t go to work,” he said.

Waymo is testing its driverless cars in London before launching services to the public later in the year. The plans are seen as the latest challenge to London’s highly regulated black cab industry, which has strict barriers to entry such as requiring drivers to memorise the capital’s streets.

The United Cabbies Group said it had reported Waymo to TfL twice in the last two weeks, in response to a driver who shared a photo of a car charging in Paddington, west London.

TfL told the group: “The company has been very apologetic and has taken some robust action. It has also put in place some further, practical measures to prevent these vehicles using taxi-dedicated points.”

(Picture: Olga Gonzalez)