Driverless taxis coming to London

*"Waymo, the US driverless car firm, said it hopes to be operating a robotaxi service in London as soon as September this year.*

*The UK government has said it plans to change regulations in the second half of 2026 to enable driverless taxis to operate in the city but has not given a specific date."*

(from [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czej9n578k9o](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czej9n578k9o))

At a time when we're supposedly trying to reduce our exposure to and dependence on US tech firms this is a very strange move. There's also an insanely optimistic assessment by the government about what impact this will have:

*"The government has estimated that the autonomous vehicle industry could add £42bn to the UK economy by 2035 and create nearly 40,000 new jobs."*

Is there anyone on planet earth that truly believes **autonomous** industries are going to be net job creators?! I'm not a Luddite by nature but the stupidity of politicians is slowly turning me that way.

Please can somebody else living on this green and pleasant island explain to me how this is a good thing?