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

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.

Wayve, a British tech firm pioneering autonomous cars, said it would “penalise the UK’s most promising innovators”.

About £27bn a year is brought in by fuel duty, which is projected to disappear with the transition to electric vehicles.

The GMB union, which represents taxi and private hire drivers, said a tax on AVs would not go far enough.

Simon Rush, president of the GMB London region drivers branch, said: “Driverless cars threaten the livelihoods of private hire drivers and the businesses that depend on them.