Imagine stepping into a taxi with no driver, and no one at the steering wheel. For many people, that first experience and thought alone could be scary. That was how my wife felt when she had her first Waymo robotaxi experience in Los Angeles. But five minutes into the drive, not only was she acquainted to her new favourite thing, but she preferred a robotaxi to a normal taxi.
This fall, many Londoners could have the same experience with announcements from Waymo (Alphabet’s robotaxi company) and Wayve (leading UK AI developer) about their plans of releasing their respective robotaxi services. The UK is positioning itself as a global leader in self-driving technology.
But what’s the benefit?
In 2024, around 30,000 people were killed or severely injured due to road crashes on UK roads. In 90% of these crashes, driver error was one of the contributing factors. The UK recently announced a national road safety strategy that boldly aims to reduce road deaths and serious injuries by 65% by 2035. Integrating new driving technologies, such as self-driving vehicles, could provide more options for people to get to their destination safely. This will eliminate unsafe driving behaviours, for example, driving under the influence of alcohol.
The misconceptions and misinformation:
Misinformation about self-driving cars is not unique to any one community. But among groups with less access to reliable, culturally contextualised information, specific myths tend to snowball faster and persist longer. There are two key misconceptions especially prevalent in the British Asian communities.
The first widespread concerns around safety (or the lack of in the selfdriving technology). It is in our human nature to worry about uncertainties and failures, especially with advanced technologies that tech companies have invested billions in. For any emerging technology, public trust is initially shaped by the trust in the institution enabling (or allowing) the introduction of the technology in society. In most cases these are public institutions or governmental systems. In order to introduce selfdriving vehicle technology on London roads, the UK government requires the technology developers to be certified and authorised by an independent government agency prior to deployment.
As per the UK’s leading Automated Vehicles’ Act 2024 self-driving vehicles should be as safe as a “careful and competent human driver”, and every developer will be evaluated against this benchmark by the UK’s Vehicle Certification Agency in a quantifiable manner. As one of the scientific advisors to this process, I am confident that the UK government’s rigorous approach will ensure the technology upholds the highest safety standards during operations.
The second misconception is associated about the ill-founded claims of job losses. This is particularly resonant in communities with strong employment ties to driving professions. Thinking objectively as well as practically, there isn’t going to be any job losses for many years to come. Initial robotaxi roll would be with tens of vehicles, and not hundreds. The introduction of robotaxis will be a gradual process, spanning decades, with significant new roles emerging in vehicle oversight, maintenance, data management and mobility services.
In the absence of any information, the information vacuum is quickly filled by misconceptions.
Addressing these misconceptions is not simply about translating leaflets. Cultural context shapes how technology is received, evaluated and trusted. Building trust through accurate knowledge requires two-way conversations. This is especially true for South Asian households, where decisions about major lifestyle changes, including transportation choices, are made collectively.
PAVE UK and our vision
Partners for Automated. Vehicle Education United Kingdom (PAVE UK) was co-founded by UK’s Department for Transport, Department for Business & Trade, Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, WMG, University of Warwick and Transport for West Midlands, with a focus on not only accurately filling the information vacuum but also enabling public trust and acceptance of self-driving technology through an inclusive awareness and education programmes.
Ensuring the technology is safe is not enough. We can have the safest technology in the world, but if the public don’t trust it, they will never use it. Many are even confused about the difference between self-driving and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, such as Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised) or GM Super Cruise. While robotaxis are coming to the UK soon, we must act now to equip the general public with the right understanding of this technology to enable safe use and acceptance.
As the Director for PAVE UK, I strongly believe that effective public awareness on self-driving technology must be multilingual, community-led, and genuinely two-way. It should not begin with the assumption that communities need to be educated into acceptance. Rather, it should start by listening, understanding their expectations and anxieties, and what questions they need answered before trust can be built.
Over the past two years, PAVE UK has held various public awareness events at Science Festivals like the Cheltenham Science Festival, British Science Festival and the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Through these events we have reached over 10,000 members of the public, engaging in conversations and providing customised virtual-reality based experiences of selfdriving vehicle technology.
On this journey, we are excited to be partnering with Asian Voice for our first event focussed for the British Asian community titled, “Our Robotaxi Future” on 20th April 2026. Our aim for the event is to not only engage in an honest conversation with the community about their expectations and hesitations (if any) but also help them understand about how the UK is ensuring the technology is safe and for the benefit of the society.
As an independent voice, PAVE UK, is looking forward to engage with the British Asian community to answer any questions and comments from the community at the event and beyond.
