Ministers must hand over full control of driverless taxi trials to Transport for London (TfL), a senior London Assembly Member has said.
Last year the Department for Transport (DfT) said it would fast-track the testing of “small scale ‘taxi and bus-like’ services without a safety driver” in 2026 before a wider potential rollout in 2027. says Harrow Online.
Several firms, including Uber and Wayve, however, are seeking approval to transport passengers in automated vehicles in London as soon as this year. Waymo is also currently testing its 100-strong fleet on the capital’s roads.
With Londoners likely to be the first riders in so-called ‘robotaxis’ – Uber has already asked users to express their interest – ministers have faced calls to devolve their oversight powers to TfL.
Caroline Russell, who chairs the London Assembly Transport Committee, said the government appears to have “stepped in on London’s devolved powers” with the issue of driverless taxis.
“The regulation of all of this is being controlled by the government when TfL should have a licensing role in this,” she told MyLondon’s new Inside City Hall podcast. We’re all a bit surprised because this is a new technology but the government has been controlling these trials and giving permission for the trials without TfL having any say.
“That is going to be a really gritty bit of the [committee] report, where we’re going to be really digging into the detail of how all of that works and making sure that TfL stands up for the devolved transport powers that London has and makes sure that TfL manages the whole transport network.
“They really should have a say in how the regulation works, what kind of data the companies have, and the rules around the way the vehicles work.
“There’s all sorts of issues around that London’s got to get on top of before anything gets unleashed on our streets.”
Currently, responsibility for authorising driverless vehicles on public roads sits with the DfT, but any paid passenger service would fall under TfL’s jurisdiction. Also, permits for Automated Passenger Services to operate in London cannot be issued without TfL’s consent, so the question is whether the DfT should make things simpler and hand over total control of driverless vehicles in London to TfL.
TfL Commissioner Andy Lord has also said there is a “risk” of the DfT “cutting across London’s devolution powers”.
“We’re focusing on devolution because, again, there is a risk here, depending how the government introduces this, that actually the Department for Transport would have greater regulation on autonomous vehicles than TfL currently has,” he told the London Assembly Transport Committee in March.
“We need to be really clear that this doesn’t cut across around London’s devolution powers, and particularly the Mayor and TfL’s. Currently, there is no trial involving TfL – the trials are around how autonomous vehicles drive on the roads.”
(Picture: Wayve)
