London's new self-driving taxis spark safety and traffic concerns

London’s first autonomous taxi service—Uber’s robotaxis—has launched with 15 electric Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicles, approved by Transport for London (TfL) in September. The cars use artificial intelligence from UK firm Wayve under the “AV 2.0” system, combining GPS maps and sensors to learn routes and avoid road users without relying on high-definition mapping or hard-coded rules. TfL requires a supervising driver in each vehicle until further government and DVLA approvals allow operation without one. Kevin Vincent of Coventry University says the UK’s road safety is strong despite about 1,600 deaths annually and that many accidents are linked to human error. Researchers at the University of Central Florida found self-driving cars were more likely to be involved in accidents in low-light conditions and while turning.