Self-driving cars should be taxed to offset job losses, thinktank urges

Report urges ministers to act early to mitigate the effects of robotaxis on England’s 417,000 taxi and private hire drivers. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/Reuters

Taxes on self-driving cars should be introduced now in the UK to offset the rise in congestion and threats to jobs they pose, a thinktank has urged.

The first robotaxis on London’s streets only started this month, but government projections are that up to 40% of cars sold could have self-driving capability by the middle of the next decade.