Governments across key markets are updating their legal frameworks to explicitly allow Level 4 autonomous vehicles, enabling the expansion of autonomous rideshare services – robotaxis.
In the UK, the Automated Vehicles Act 2024 legally enables “self-driving” cars to operate on public roads without a safety driver, and shifts liability in autonomous mode from human drivers to manufacturers, insurers, or software providers.
Similarly, China has introduced city-level regulations, such as in Beijing starting April 2025, that permit robotaxis and autonomous buses to be trialed once they pass safety tests and encourage the construction of smart infrastructure to support them.
Regulators are also pushing infrastructure and urban planning changes to enable viable deployment of robotaxi fleets. In China, city planning now includes mandates for “intelligent road infrastructure”, dedicated zones, specialised road markings, and connectivity features that support AV navigation and safety. Moreover, public pilots are being fast-tracked: for example, Uber plans to trial Level 4, driverless electric taxis beginning in spring 2026 in the UK, following the regulatory changes.
Increased competition in the robotaxi race
The competitive landscape for robotaxi services is evolving swiftly. Several leading companies are entering new cities to broaden their coverage. Most notably, Waymo plans to launch a robotaxi service in Las Vegas, San Diego, and Detroit in 2026, its most significant US geographic expansion yet.
Meanwhile, Baidu’s Apollo Go is pushing into Europe through a partnership with Lyft to provide service in Germany and the UK as early as 2026, in addition to its growing presence across Chinese cities. Uber and WeRide have also launched fully driverless robotaxi operations in Abu Dhabi, extending their service reach into the Middle East.
Scale-up efforts are accelerating through strategic partnerships and investment in production capability. Zoox, backed by Amazon, has opened a 220,000ft² facility in Hayward, California, with the capacity to produce more than 10,000 purpose-built robotaxi vehicles annually. Uber is deepening ties with autonomous vehicle providers such as WeRide and Momenta and forming collaborations with OEMs and hardware providers like Lucid, Stellantis, and NVIDIA, to secure technology and vehicle volume. Geographic expansion helps establish first‐mover advantages in diverse regulatory and cultural environments, boosting both brand recognition and route network value.
Supporting technology is beginning to catch up with demand
Rapid advances in enabling technologies are dramatically improving the capability of autonomous vehicles, enabling a broader expansion of robotaxi services. In autonomy hardware and software, falling costs and higher maturity of perception sensors are enabling vehicles to see and interpret their surroundings with unprecedented precision.
At the same time, AI and ML models are becoming more reliable in tasks like object detection, behavior prediction, and motion planning, allowing for safer and smoother autonomous driving. Parallel advances in electric vehicle platforms are equally vital, as purpose-built robotaxi designs from OEMs now incorporate durable battery systems, structural redundancy, and components engineered for continuous operation.
Connectivity and supporting infrastructure are evolving in concert, with high-bandwidth, low-latency networks like 5G and C-V2X enabling real-time data exchange and remote supervision while HD mapping, precise localisation, and geofencing bolster navigational accuracy.
