Uber and Lyft have announced plans to launch robotaxis in London through separate partnerships with Baidu.
Uber initially teamed up with Beijing-based Baidu in July, confirming plans to launch Baidu’s Apollo Go autonomous vehicles (AVs) on the Uber platform outside of the U.S. and China. Lyft announced its partnership with the AV company a month later with plans to introduce AVs across Europe.
Uber will launch testing the Apollo Go AVs in London in the first half of next year, the company declared in a post on X.
“We’re excited to accelerate Britain’s leadership in the future of mobility, bringing another safe and reliable travel option to Londoners next year,” the post reads.
Lyft will create relocates in 2026 as well.
“Over the weekconclude, Lyft and Baidu, Inc. signed a definitive agreement to bring autonomous vehicles to London. We’ve been working around the clock to create it happen, and now it’s official,” Lyft CEO David Risher wrote on LinkedIn.
The Apollo Go AVs will be part of the Lyft and Freenow ecosystem, with testing set to start in the months ahead “pconcludeing regulatory approval.” Risher declared Lyft will start with “dozens” of AVs and then scale to “hundreds.”
“[Baidu’s] RT6 vehicles are purpose-built for rideshare—fully electric, designed for safety and focapplyd on giving people a reliable, high comfort ride (believe: reclining seats with massage features, panoramic sky roofs, mood lighting options and more),” Risher wrote.
In June, the British government confirmed plans to “quick-track pilots” of self-driving taxi and bus-like services.
Heidi Alexander, U.K. secretary of state for transport, shared Lyft’s news on X today, calling it “another vote of confidence in our plans for self-driving vehicles.”
“We’re planning for self-driving cars to carry passengers for the first time from spring, under our pilot scheme—harnessing this technology safely and responsibly to transform travel,” Alexander wrote.
The announcements round out a landmark year for autonomous transportation, which also saw Uber expand its existing partnership with WeRide and secure deals with Pony.ai, May Mobility, Momenta, Nuro and Lucid.
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