Self-driving taxi firm Waymo is set to launch its Jaguar I-Pace fleet in London before the end of the year and everyone has their opinions, but there’s a hidden benefit to driverless taxis that no one knew about until now… 

Waymo has revealed a pilot programme that will use its cars’ data analysing abilities to capture and report data on potholes using the ‘Waze for Cities’ initiative from Google’s satnav company that allows councils to access data reported by users. 

The company says that its cars have always been set up so that they report hazards like potholes to each other, but it’s now using the data to highlight the issues to local authorities, who can do with the information what they wish. 

What isn’t known yet is whether the cars would be able to continue driving on UK roads with the sheer amount of information they would be processing on British potholes. 

Waymo will first launch the programme in five major US cities where it currently operates, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Austin, but says that it will roll the feature out to other areas as it develops. 

“Waymo is already making roads safer where we operate. We want to build on the safety benefits of our service by partnering with organisations and city officials to help improve the infrastructure we all depend on,” said Waymo’s research manager Arielle Fleisher.

Waymo’s I-Pace fleet is currently on trial in London as the company prepares for launch later this year – the government is expected to give the nod to the firm’s self-driving taxis over the summer, although the cars got themselves some bad publicity by driving into a police crime scene in Harlesden recently following a double stabbing in the area. Waymo did claim afterwards that its test driver had been in control of the vehicle at the time. 

The UK government is expected to give the green light to Waymo's driverless taxis within months, and other companies could follow