Uber lands in London and announces first passengers ahead of full public launch

We already knew that Uber was coming to London in time for the Olympics, but the private “driver for hire” company is starting to ramp things up ahead of its full public launch.

The San Francisco-based startup has now started the initial testing phase in the UK capital, with former Dragons’ Den judge Richard Farleigh among its first passengers, followed by David Clark, Director of Astronaut Relations at Virgin Galactic.

Currently, the San Francisco-based startup is operational in most of the major US cities, with Paris its only launchpad outside of North America so far.

We reported on Uber’s first tentative steps in Vancouver last month, but with a London roll-out imminent, and Asia expected by the end of the year, we’ll likely start to see a slew of new additions to its roster in the coming months.

Uber is quick to stress that although there are “secret Ubers on the road” in London, it’s still firmly in research mode and it’s not quite ready to announce its full roll-out…yet.