Waymo’s driverless taxis now roam London’s streets. They veer into cycle lanes. The company calls it normal. Cyclists call it dangerous.
Just days after launching a pilot in the British capital in early April 2026, Alphabet’s Waymo faced backlash from cycling advocates. The firm told campaigners that expecting its vehicles to avoid bike lanes sets the bar too high. Customers demand drop-offs right there, in the protected paths. So the robo-taxis pull over anyway. Road.cc broke the story on April 24, 2026, citing direct communications with the company.
Christopher White, executive director of the San Francisco Bike Coalition, didn’t mince words. “Waymos pull over into bike lanes all the time for pickups and drop-offs and that’s neither legal nor safe. But the companies say that is a normal practice and that’s what customers expect.” His comment, relayed through Road.cc, echoes years of friction in U.S. cities.
San Francisco knows this all too well. In February 2025, cyclist Jenifer Hanki, 26, pedaled down Seventh Street in a marked bike lane. A Waymo taxi had stopped illegally in a no-parking zone. A passenger flung open the rear door. Straight into her path. She crashed into it, then tumbled into a second Waymo angling into the lane. Brain injury. Spinal damage. Soft tissue trauma. She couldn’t work or ride again. Hanki sued Waymo and Alphabet in San Francisco Superior Court, alleging negligence and a failed Safe Exit system—tech meant to warn passengers of nearby cyclists. San Francisco Chronicle detailed the suit in June 2025; SiliconValley.com followed with her account: “It was a beautiful Sunday.”
Waymo’s Safe Exit? It didn’t alert. The lawsuit claims the firm knew its cars “doored” cyclists but kept the practice. The Frisc reported in February 2026 that Waymo hadn’t even disclosed this crash to California’s DMV, unlike minor scrapes.
Backtrack further. February 2024. Another San Francisco cyclist. Non-life-threatening injuries. Waymo taxi failed to spot him, hidden by a truck. It braked hard but hit anyway. The company blamed occlusion. Regulators reviewed. Reuters covered it live.
And it’s not just San Francisco. In January 2026, a Waymo blocked a Denver bike lane during mapping. Company pinned it on a human safety driver. 9News quoted advocates: Not autonomous? Still a problem.
London’s launch adds urgency. Waymo mapped with safety drivers since autumn 2025. Now Jaguar I-Paces prowl without them, at least in trials. A recent TikTok caught one threading a police cordon in west London. Manually driven, Waymo said. UK Highway Code forbids it: No driving in solid-line cycle lanes. No blocking dashed ones unless unavoidable. Always yield to bikes. Campaigners like London Cycling Campaign’s Tom Fyans urge caution. “Whether that is still the case on London’s infamously complex, congested and contested streets, remains to be seen,” he told Road.cc in January 2026.
Waymo pushes back with data. Its safety page touts 85% fewer cyclist injury crashes—39 fewer—versus human benchmarks. Radar, lidar, cameras see three football fields ahead. They spot hand signals, yield predictively. A 2019 video showed one slowing for a cyclist dodging debris. But critics question the stats. San Francisco injuries rose 2.6% from 2023 to 2025, post-Waymo expansion. FlyingPenguin.com crunched city numbers April 2026: Wrong direction for a safety pioneer.
Waymo operates in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Austin. Testing in New York. Full London autonomy? Later 2026, if regulators greenlight. California DMV data shows more: Unreported crashes, raccoon strikes, low-speed departures. Austin logged 140 incidents 2024-2025, including five collisions. NHTSA tracks nationally.
Cyclists feel squeezed. Autonomous fleets multiply trips, clog streets, supplant transit—potentially hiking total crashes, says Bloomberg’s David Zipper. Waymo vehicles obey lights, speed limits. Fine. But programmed habits like lane invasions? That’s the rub.
Regulators watch. UK eyes rules by year’s end. California probes reporting gaps. The Frisc notes change may come. Cyclists demand enforcement. Waymo? Customers first. Boom. Collision course.
Safety hinges on code tweaks. Or laws. One guarantees the other won’t budge alone.
WebProNews is an iEntry Publication