Hello ODI Supporter,
London’s first self-driving taxis hit the road this week with Wayve’s autonomous vehicles added to the Uber app, albeit only 15 of them. Each vehicle is shadowed by a human safety driver ready to grab the wheel, which is exactly what happened when a BBC reporter’s driver intervened after a parked van’s doors swung open mid-ride. While Wayve insists its AI would have handled the situation, Transport for London and the Department for Transport aren’t in a hurry to find out, so it’s unlikely full driverless vehicles will be approved before 2027. Meanwhile, Uber is trimming humans on its payroll as well as in the driver’s seat, cutting more than 3,000 jobs worldwide in management positions to free up cash for its “biggest opportunities ahead”, according to its CEO, which reportedly includes autonomous vehicle partnerships. In Amsterdam, humans still driving for Uber have filed a class action lawsuit against it on behalf of 241,000 drivers alleging that the company’s opaque pay-setting algorithm breaches GDPR and has squeezed their earnings based on what each driver will tolerate. Uber denies the claim, which could run into billions. And it’s not just self-driving cars. Self-flying planes have taken to the skies, spraying crops in California and Brazil, with plans for cargo runs in Shetland and Orkney. Unsurprisingly, pilots’ unions aren’t impressed. So, autonomy is coming for the driving seat and the cockpit, the only question is who gets to decide how soon.
We learned this week that not all data breaches need a sophisticated hacker. Sometimes a link sent to the wrong ferry passenger will do the trick, as P&O Ferries discovered the hard way when personal information relating to customers on a Dover to Calais crossing was shared with several fellow travellers. Meanwhile in Guernsey, the data protection authority flagged an even lower-tech culprit, this time a doctor who exposed a patient’s identifying and health data by taking a phone call mid-examination. The data protection commissioner said "breaches are not just about records, but include overheard conversations". A less, shall we say ‘quirky’, breach hit Manchester Airports Group (MAG) when hackers accessed contact details, vehicle registrations and postcodes belonging to 8.7 million customers at the weekend. Manchester, East Midlands and London Stansted airports were affected, with the criminals demanding a ransom for the return of the data, which MAG said it refused to pay.
We’ve opened a call for non-commercial organisations to help accelerate the adoption of Solid. Six projects will be selected for six months of tailored support, including hands-on time with Solid-specialist ODI engineers and access to ODI-hosted Solid sandboxes, to help turn Solid into real social good on the ground. For more information, and to find out how to apply, read more.
That open call will be the subject of Solid World on Tuesday 15 September, 16:00-17:00, so sign up if you’re interested in taking part. We’ve got more great webinars coming up. On Wednesday 23 September, 12:00-13:00 BST, we have Building municipal data capability: Lessons from the Urban Resilience Programme, looking at digital transformation in local government in South Africa. On Thursday 24 September, 14:00-15:00, we’ll explore the long‑standing question of how doctors and nurses approach decisions about sharing confidential patient information in the public interest. And on Friday 25 September, 12:00-13:00 BST, we’ll unveil a new partnership to re-establish the UK Knowledge Graphs Interest Group, so get your tickets now!
And finally… an AI tool has been developed that can spot the sign of heart failure and heart valve disease from a routine ECG in under two seconds. In trials of 67,000 patients in the US, it correctly identified 81% of heart failure cases and 90% of heart valve disease cases. With a billion ECGs carried out worldwide each year, that’s a lot of hearts that could get looked at sooner.
Until next time.
David and Jo
PS: This month, DigiGov Expo 2026 arrives at Excel London, with a chance to step inside the conversations shaping digital government today from service redesign to emerging tech. ODI speakers will be there too, so come along and see us! Secure one of the final passes now.
