Robotaxis are coming – it’s how we talk about them that will shape what comes next

Driverless cars are no longer a sci-fi idea. The UK government has backed the technology, with legislation in motion and the first robotaxis expected on British roads by spring 2026. In other countries, including the US, China, South Korea, Singapore, and the UAE, they’re already in use. The ambition is real, the investment is serious, and now, with trials set to begin in London, the conversation is no longer theoretical. It’s unfolding right here, in real time.

While other countries are already moving ahead, the UK is watching closely. In some cities, autonomous vehicles are already part of everyday life, supported by significant public and private investment. These developments raise an important question: how does the UK keep pace, not just in building the tech, but in helping the public understand and accept it?

The UK has its own context. Our roads are narrower, our infrastructure older, and our media more likely to question than to celebrate new tech. We tend to be cautious adopters, preferring to see proof before we commit. That doesn’t mean we’re resistant to change, just that the journey to public acceptance might look different here. It’s less about sweeping launches and more about local engagement. That’s why communication can’t be an afterthought – it needs to be a tool for building trust, clarity and confidence, one conversation at a time.

Public trust remains the missing piece. You can design the perfect driverless journey in theory, but it won’t matter if people don’t feel safe enough to get in. And right now, many don’t. According to a YouGov poll, a third of Brits say they’d feel very unsafe in a driverless vehicle.

This isn’t a typical product launch in the usual sense. It’s a shift in how we move through cities, how we interact with machines, and how much control we’re willing to hand over. And while policy, engineering and infrastructure all play a role, so does trust. That makes this a communications challenge as much as a technological one.

We’re at a cultural pinch point, where innovation is moving quickly but understanding is lagging. And in that gap, fear often rushes in – fear of safety failures, fear of job losses, fear of losing human contact in public life. Those concerns are valid and demand a serious response. But rather than letting them define the narrative, we need to explain how society can adapt, how the workforce can evolve, and how jobs can be reinvented in this new world.

As comms professionals, our role is to bring clarity where there’s confusion. To help organisations talk about emerging technologies in a way that feels human and grounded. And to support the people shaping places as they navigate a wave of change that’s coming faster than most of us expected.

We’ve seen this before. When credit cards first arrived, the idea of borrowing money you couldn’t see felt reckless. When the internet arrived, many dismissed it as a novelty that wouldn’t catch on. But over time, these innovations became familiar, not just because they worked, but because they were explained, repeated and made visible.

Now we send emails instead of letters, move money from our phones, and think nothing of getting into a stranger’s car via an app. Engineering made it possible, but communication made it normal.

Driverless cars might follow the same path. Or they might not. But either way, they’re already raising questions the built environment will need to answer. Even limited adoption could change how we think about car parks, drop-off points, last-mile journeys, and the way we use streets day-to-day. These are questions developers, planners and local authorities will have to grapple with, and how they’ll surface in local conversations long before they’re written into policy.