Overview
- Uber says its first London pilot with Baidu’s Apollo Go vehicles is slated for the first half of 2026.
- Lyft plans to begin with dozens of vehicles in 2026 and scale to hundreds, operating as a hybrid network through the Lyft and FreeNow platforms.
- The trials will use Baidu’s fully electric Apollo Go RT6 robotaxis, which are purpose-built for ride-hailing.
- Testing depends on approvals under the UK’s accelerated scheme targeting small-scale passenger pilots from spring 2026, a timeline highlighted by Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander.
- London is set to host competing deployments from Baidu, Waymo and UK startup Wayve as Baidu points to operations in 22 cities and roughly 250,000 weekly trips, with safety, data privacy and business viability under close scrutiny.