Uber robotaxis hit London's streets, but with humans still behind the wheel

Robotaxis are on the roads of London, marking Uber's biggest real-world challenge yet in a busy city built on a dense layout and countless roundabouts.This week, Uber rolled out 15 autonomous Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicles in London powered by artificial intelligence. The project is a partnership with British technology company Wayve.As of now, a supervisor must be on board the vehicle because London regulators still do not allow full autonomy on the roads yet. And while the robotaxis can travel anywhere within London, they cannot yet make trips to the airport. Kendall noted some of the challenges that Wayve and Uber faced in the development process in a city with some roads that are hundreds of years old."There's many roundabouts, interaction scenarios, there's more than 10 times more cyclists and pedestrians than you can see in cities like San Francisco," Kendall said. "More than 10 times the amount of roadwork, so it's just a constantly busy and evolving city."Wayve's investor base, along with Uber, also includes Nvidia and Microsoft. Its chief competitor, Waymo, a subsidiary of Google's parent company Alphabet, has been mapping London with its vehicles, but has not yet rolled the...