The App Drivers and Couriers Union is holding a day of action today, Saturday 17 October, outside Wayve’s London office at 230–238 York Way, from 11am to 1pm. The union says driverless cars are a direct threat to members’ jobs, and it wants autonomous trials stopped until drivers have a transition plan and clearer safety rules.
This is not the September start of the supervised Uber and Wayve service, which TaxiFeed has already reported. A licensed driver is still legally in control of those cars. The London Assembly’s call for Transport for London to withhold consent is also already live.
What the union is demanding
The ADCU says Wayve and TfL have confirmed that the licensed private hire driver remains legally responsible even when the system is driving. It calls that unacceptable, because the driver carries the legal and financial risk for technology they do not control.
It wants an immediate halt until there is:
- a clear and enforceable just transition plan for drivers
- full disclosure of safety incidents, interventions and near misses
- independent oversight of the testing
- legal protection for the human safety drivers
- clear accountability when an autonomous vehicle is in a collision
Abdurzak Hadi, an Uber driver and the union’s London chair, told The Guardian that today’s protest follows a similar one at Waymo’s base in Park Royal in August. He said he would be competing with a machine that does not get tired and could work all day, and that licensed drivers are also a safeguard for vulnerable passengers.
Florentina Ghiuzan, 42, an Uber driver from Essex, said she was shocked TfL had approved the service so soon, and that she heard about it as a customer rather than as a driver. Faisal Osman, 51, from east London, who has driven for Uber for 12 years, said robotaxis would decimate livelihoods, including his own.
Wayve told the paper that, with Uber, it is taking a deliberately phased approach, and that it has a constructive relationship with TfL. A spokesperson for the mayor said he shared concerns about safety, congestion and jobs.