Robotaxis arrive in London — with humans still behind the wheel

Driving the news: Uber customers in London can be matched with one of 15 Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicles equipped with Wayve's self-driving system.

• The cars will drive themselves, but trained safety operators will remain behind the wheel.
• Wayve is the first company licensed to launch a supervised robotaxi service in London.

Between the lines: It's Wayve's first public deployment after years of testing its end-to-end AI-based driving technology.

• The Uber service is launching under London's existing ride-hailing rules, rather than the UK's still-developing regulations for fully driverless cars.

The big picture: What was largely an American and Chinese phenomenon is becoming a global competition.

• The U.S. is furthest along in robotaxis. Waymo now operates commercial service in 14 U.S. cities and is rapidly expanding its fleet and geographic footprint, including in international markets.
• China is scaling quickly. Companies including Baidu, Pony.ai and WeRide operate robotaxi services both at home and overseas.

• The Middle East is emerging as a major market, led by Uber and the Chinese players.
• Europe is just getting started. Zagreb launched Europe's first commercial robotaxi service in April through Uber in partnership with Pony.ai and a Croatian startup, Verne.

What we're watching: London could become an important AV battleground.

• Wayve, Waymo and Baidu are all preparing services there, although none has yet been approved to carry passengers without a safety driver.