No autonomous vehicles meet TfL licensing standards, officials confirm

Transport for London has confirmed that no autonomous vehicle currently operating in the UK meets the licensing standards required to carry passengers as a taxi or private hire vehicle in the capital. The clarification came during a London Assembly Transport Committee session, where both Commissioner Andy Lord and Deputy Mayor for Transport Seb Dance stressed that driverless technology remains far from meeting London’s regulatory bar.

Lord told Assembly Members that while autonomous vehicles are permitted on public roads for testing, none are legally able to carry fare‑paying passengers, and TfL would not hesitate to refuse licences for “unproven” robotaxi services. Dance added that no autonomous passenger operations are running in London today, and any future deployment would need to comply fully with the city’s established taxi and private hire framework.

Their comments come amid growing interest from AV developers, but also rising concern about safety, accessibility, congestion and the potential impact on professional drivers. Several Assembly Members warned that large‑scale AV deployment could pose a “massive threat” to livelihoods if not tightly controlled.

Those concerns are echoed in the Institute of Licensing’s formal response to the government’s consultation on the automated vehicles regulatory framework. The IoL warns that exempting automated passenger services from traditional taxi and private hire licensing risks weakening long‑standing safety and accessibility protections, and could leave councils without meaningful control over how AV services operate in their areas. The organisation is calling for robust local oversight, enforceable safety standards, clear accountability mechanisms and a permitting system that allows authorities to impose conditions or withdraw consent where necessary.