Waymo’s driverless taxi UK rollout puts legal system to the test
The UK is set to become the first European country to welcome Waymo’s driverless taxis but lawyers caution that current laws are fundamentally incompatible with the technology.
Last week, Waymo announced its UK launch will start with a small fleet of human-supervised Jaguar I-PACE electric vehicles “in the coming weeks,” before moving to fully autonomous operations by 2026.
Waymo’s Ethan Teicher told CityAM, “We’ll start with a small fleet and gradually expand, working closely with the Department for Transport and Transport for London to ensure safety and regulatory compliance at every stage.”
But lawyers have raised questions of liability, arguing that the current legal system simply isn’t ready for driverless cars.
Ernest Aduwa, partner at Stokoe Partnership Solicitors, told CityAM: “Our current system of motoring offences is built upon a fundamental, and until now, unshakeable principle, the principle of human agency. Every driving offence requires a culpable human mind behind the wheel.”
“The arrival of true driverless cars, where no human is monitoring or controlling the vehicle, shatters this principle and forces us to confront a legal vacuum,” he added.
“If a driverless car exceeds the speed limit, crashes into another vehicle or property, or causes injury, who carries the blame? Is it Waymo? The car manufacturer? Or the software engineer who wrote the code?”
Back in January, a Waymo vehicle was involved, although not at fault, in a deadly, multi-car collision in San Francisco. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), as of June 2025, Waymo vehicles were involved in 398 collisions in the US.
For the UK, Darius Latham-Koenig, Associate at Grosvenor Law, noted, the “legal questions of liability are yet to be adequately resolved, particularly in an accident scenario”. He explained that the implementation of the Automated Vehicles Act 2024 “should be heavily scrutinised to ensure legal clarification.”
Automated Vehicles Act
William Smith, partner at Addleshaw Goddard, stated: “The legislative framework is in place, but there is still a lot of detail to be fleshed out, particularly around liability, enforcement and data governance.”
Back in May 2024, a Bill to regulate the use of automated vehicles on roads and in other public places, and to make other provisions in relation to vehicle automation, became law.
Andrew Sanderson, partner specialising in transport law, at Kingsley Napley, said that this law introduced a new legal category: authorised self-driving entities.
“These entities, not human drivers, will be held to safety standards equal to or better than those of a competent driver. This shift means liability in the event of an accident could rest with software developers, manufacturers, fleet operators, or even infrastructure providers, not just the person behind the wheel,” he explained.
He noted that under the previous law, the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018, insurers were already liable for accidents involving automated vehicles. But the updated legislation goes further, addressing complex issues such as transitioning between manual and automated modes, cybersecurity risks, and data sharing obligations.
Sanderson did suggest this law should be a “wake-up call” for insurers and transport companies.
“The traditional fault-based model is being replaced by a system-centric approach. New insurance products are emerging to separate human error from system failure, and regulators are demanding clarity on cybersecurity, data sharing, and operational protocols,” he added.
Now that driverless cars are moving from novelty to reality on UK roads, Sanderson warns, “Legal professionals must be ready to advise on a landscape where liability is shared, complex, and constantly evolving.”
“This is an exciting time for London and the UK as it will see the introduction of modern on-demand mobility like we have seen adopted in other parts of the world like San Francisco and the UAE,” Smith added.
However, the true impact of this law remains untested, and it’s unclear whether unforeseen gaps will emerge as driverless vehicles become more common on UK roads.