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Uber and Lyft plan to bring robotaxis to
London in partnerships with China's Baidu
[December 23, 2025]
LONDON (AP) — Ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft plan to bring
robotaxi services to London next year in separate partnerships with
Chinese tech giant Baidu, the companies said Monday.
Uber said it's teaming up with Baidu's Apollo Go autonomous vehicle
service to take part in a pilot program for self-driving taxi services
that the British government is planning for next year.
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A Baidu Apollo Robotaxi passes its customer service counter setup at the
Shougang Park in Beijing, on May 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File) |
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Testing is expected to start in the first half of 2026, the two
companies said in social media posts.
Lyft is also partnering with Baidu for the robotaxi trials using
Apollo Go RT6 vehicles that are "purpose-built for rideshare,"
CEO David Risher said in a post on X.
“We expect to start testing our initial fleet with dozens of
vehicles next year - pending regulatory approval," Risher said.
The company "plans to scale to hundreds from there,” he added.
Britain is emerging as a frontline for the global rollout of
self-driving taxi services after the government decided over the
summer to speed up its pilot program by moving the start date up
by a year.
Baidu is racing against rivals including Waymo, owned by Google
parent Alphabet, which said in October it plans to take part in
the U.K. trials as part of its global expansion.
Wayve, a U.K. homegrown startup that's developing its own
artificial intelligence technology for self-driving cars, has
also teamed up with Uber to bring robotaxi service to the
British capital.
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