Overview
- Residents in Shoreditch were woken around 4:15 a.m. when Waymo Jaguars drove into gated Elder Street on several days and then beeped and whirred as they tried to reverse out.
- Following this week's late-night run-ins, Waymo said it has restricted its vehicles from using that specific street while broader London testing continues.
- The London programme uses about 24 Jaguar SUVs, and UK rules require a human safety driver to sit at the wheel during all trials.
- In a separate April incident in Harlesden, Waymo said a car that rolled into a taped-off crime scene was being manually driven rather than in autonomous mode.
- The episodes show how London’s narrow lanes, gated blocks and heavy foot traffic can trip up route planning, which Waymo says it is tuning ahead of a wider launch that some reports say could start as early as September.