Baidu has started testing autonomous vehicles on London streets, deploying dozens of test vehicles in the borough of Brent with human safety operators behind the wheel. The testing began the week of July 28, 2026 and represents the on-the-ground commencement of a partnership between Baidu, Lyft, and Freenow that was first reported in August 2025 TechCrunch.

The strategic partnership between Lyft and Baidu, struck roughly a year ago, aims to deploy Baidu's purpose-built Apollo Go RT6 robotaxi across key European markets through the Lyft platform. Lyft's own announcement in August 2025 identified Germany and the United Kingdom as initial deployment targets, with a 2026 start Lyft Blog. The RT6 is Baidu's sixth-generation autonomous vehicle, designed for ride-hailing deployment at scale. The London testing now underway is the first visible sign of that plan materializing in the UK capital.

The Baidu robotaxi service will eventually be available through Freenow, the European mobility platform Lyft acquired in April 2025 for approximately $197 million TechCrunch. Freenow by Lyft and Baidu said they expect to invite the public to hail robotaxis in 2027, contingent on regulatory approval. Lyft and Freenow continue discussions with Transport for London (TfL) and the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) regarding the deployment.

Thomas Zimmermann, CEO of Freenow by Lyft, said in a statement that their priority is ensuring autonomous technology supports the professional drivers who keep London moving TechCrunch. Freenow by Lyft said it will operate a hybrid network where human drivers and robotaxis work alongside each other rather than substituting one for the other outright.

The testing also coincides with a UK government AV pilot program. In May 2026, the government opened applications for a program allowing companies to test self-driving vehicles under government oversight TechCrunch. Baidu and its partners are entering a regulatory environment that has been actively preparing for AV deployment rather than one that is improvising around it.

Baidu is not entering the London market exclusively through Lyft. Uber also entered a partnership with Baidu to test Apollo Go robotaxis in London, in parallel with Lyft's separate arrangement Yahoo Finance. That means Baidu's AV technology could power robotaxi rides across competing ride-hailing platforms in the same city, a structure that is unusual in a sector where platform exclusivity has been the default. Waymo, for instance, has operated through exclusive partnerships with ride-hailing apps in US markets. Baidu's dual-platform approach in London gives its Apollo Go stack broader exposure to real-world European driving conditions and consumer demand signals, while letting both Lyft and Uber benefit from the same underlying autonomy layer.

The scale of Baidu's autonomous operations provides context for the London push. Apollo Go delivered 3.2 million fully driverless rides globally in Q1 2026 Baidu Official. Those rides are concentrated in China, where Baidu has built out its Apollo Go service across multiple cities. London marks one of the first European testbeds for the Apollo Go RT6 outside that home market.

The regulatory pathway in London differs meaningfully from the US cities where robotaxi services have scaled. TfL and CCAV oversight introduces a layered approval process that does not have a direct equivalent in the permissive regulatory environments where AV companies have operated in Arizona or California. The UK's approach requires government-sanctioned pilot participation, and public rides remain gated behind regulatory sign-off that Baidu and Freenow do not expect to clear until 2027.

The hybrid network model that Freenow described, where human drivers and robotaxis operate in the same fleet, is a deliberate framing that addresses one of the most politically charged aspects of AV deployment: the displacement of professional drivers. Zimmermann's statement positions autonomous technology as complementary to rather than replacing the existing driver workforce. Whether that framing holds as the proportion of autonomous rides scales up is a question that will take years to answer in practice.

Looking at the competitive landscape, London is shaping up as a distinctive battleground. Multiple AV operators and multiple ride-hailing platforms are converging on a city with a regulatory framework that demands government oversight and a timeline measured in years rather than months. The combination of Baidu's dual-platform partnerships, the UK's structured pilot program, and the 2027 target for public rides means that what begins this week in Brent is a slow, regulated entry rather than a rapid rollout.

The London testing does not immediately change the mobility options available to residents. Safety operators remain behind the wheel, public rides are a year away at minimum, and the scope is limited to a single borough. What it does establish is a foothold for Apollo Go in a European market that has been methodically building the regulatory and operational infrastructure to accommodate autonomous vehicles on its own terms.