Lyft partners with China's Baidu to trial robotaxis in London

US ride-sharing app Lyft has announced its desire to pilot self-driving vehicles in London.

Lyft is set to use Chinese-built Baidu vehicles. Baidu’s Apollo Go driverless robotaxi service already operates in dozens of cities, mostly in China.

Lyft chief executive David Risher said: “Over the weekend, Lyft and Baidu signed a definitive agreement to bring autonomous vehicles to London. We've been working around the clock to make it happen, and now it's official,” he wrote on LinkedIn.

“Riders in London will be the first in the UK to experience Baidu's Apollo Go vehicles as part of the Lyft and @Freenow ecosystem, with plans to start testing in the months ahead with dozens of vehicles in 2026 pending regulatory approval and then scaling to hundreds from there.”

Transport secretary Heidi Alexander retweeted with a statemeny by David Risher on X, adding: “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.”

In August, Lyft said it would look to deploy driverless taxis in the UK and Germany as part of a European agreement with Baidu. Lyft is targeting a 2026 launch to begin testing pending regulatory approval, leveraging its Freenow operations and local partnerships to bring Baidu's Apollo Go vehicles to London riders.

Lyft already operates autonomous rides in the US city of Atlanta, where Uber also operates a robotaxi service through its partnership with Waymo.

Uber has already signalled its desire to trial autonomous taxis in London. In June Uber said would bring its plans to trial UK driverless cars forward as the government sought to accelerate framework to allow pilots of small autonomous “bus and taxi like” commercial services in 2026. 

Lyft CEO David Risher's announcement

“Over the weekend, Lyft and Baidu signed a definitive agreement to bring autonomous vehicles to London. We've been working around the clock to make it happen, and now it's official,” he wrote on LinkedIn.

“Riders in London will be the first in the UK to experience Baidu's Apollo Go vehicles as part of the Lyft and @Freenow ecosystem, with plans to start testing in the months ahead with dozens of vehicles in 2026 pending regulatory approval and then scaling to hundreds from there.

“The numbers speak for themselves: Baidu's Apollo Go operates the world's largest autonomous ride-hailing service with over 17 million cumulative rides across 22 cities globally. It has logged over 240 million kilometers of autonomous driving, with over 140 million kilometers driven in fully driverless mode.

“And its weekly ride count surpassed 250,000 in October, all of which are fully driverless. Their RT6 vehicles are purpose-built for rideshare – fully electric, designed for safety, and focused on giving people a reliable, high comfort ride (think: reclining seats with massage features, panoramic sky roofs, mood lighting options, and more).

“This is our vision for a hybrid network coming to life: AVs and human drivers working together to serve London's diverse transportation needs now and beyond – from late-night trips home (post-Nandos, of course), to Heathrow rides, to early commutes across town, and everything in between.

“We're committed to working closely with Transport for London, local authorities, and the communities we'll serve to ensure these vehicles enhance London's transportation ecosystem.

“More details to come in the months ahead, but I’ll say this: the future of mobility is arriving in one of the world’s greatest cities, and I couldn’t be more excited.”