About 15 people demonstrated outside autonomous vehicle developer Wayve’s offices in King’s Cross, calling for driverless taxi trials in London to be suspended.
The protesters cited concerns about road safety, congestion and the potential impact on private hire and taxi employment. Wayve is testing vehicles in the capital with human safety operators on board, according to the BBC, while Waymo is also trialling autonomous vehicles on London’s roads.
Drivers seek clarity over trials
Abdurzak Hadi, a private hire driver and member of the App Drivers and Couriers Union, said he was “worried that I’ll be forced to compete with a machine that can work 24 hours”.
Hadi called on Transport for London (TfL) to suspend licences for driverless vehicles until there was more clarity about how the technology would be introduced. He also said drivers had not been properly informed about the trials.
“No message was sent to the wider drivers to inform them of the situation; what is TfL’s stance in this position? What’s going to happen?” he said.
Priyanka Khurana, of campaign group Fare Free London, argued that autonomous taxis could increase traffic while reducing employment opportunities for drivers.
“By adding more cars, you’re first of all taking away the jobs of the taxi drivers,” she said. “Instead of having more buses, you’re having more cars on the road and that’s what we don’t want.”
Wayve says development is phased
Wayve said it was taking a phased approach to developing the technology with Uber and was working with TfL to ensure that any future services were introduced responsibly.