Baidu, Lyft, and Freenow have started testing self-driving taxis on London roads, with human drivers still sitting behind the wheel as a safety measure. Dozens of these vehicles, called Apollo Go RT6, are now driving around the Brent borough as part of the first testing phase, according to Engadget reporting published July 28, 2026, and a parallel announcement distributed via PR Newswire Engadget.

The commercial service, called "Freenow by Lyft," expects to let everyday people book rides starting in 2027. Before that public launch, Lyft and Freenow plan to begin handling passenger bookings for the self-driving taxi service starting next year Engadget.

Before these vehicles can carry paying passengers, they need approval from Transport for London (TfL), the agency that runs London's transit system, and the UK government. The UK government is currently writing new rules for self-driving cars and recently launched its own robotaxi pilot program. Baidu's Q1 2026 financial results also showed that Apollo Go is expected to begin testing in London with Uber, not just Lyft, and that the service is on track to start testing on public roads in Switzerland Baidu IR.

Lyft bought Freenow, a German taxi company that operates in the UK and Germany, to help roll out self-driving vehicles across Europe. An earlier partnership announcement from August 2025 outlined Lyft's plan to deploy Baidu Apollo Go's RT6 self-driving vehicles in Germany and the United Kingdom starting in 2026 Lyft Blog. At that time, the UK government had sped up its timeline, aiming for initial services with paying passengers by spring 2026 Reuters.

London is already hosting several other self-driving vehicle efforts. Waymo started testing its Jaguar I-Pace self-driving vehicles with human safety drivers in London earlier in 2025. Uber and its self-driving partner Wayve are preparing to launch their own trials in London and are letting customers sign up on an interest list Engadget.

The competitive picture in London is notable. Waymo, Uber and Wayve, and now the Baidu-Lyft-Freenow group are all trying to work through a set of rules that the UK government has been building step by step. The shift from the government's earlier goal of spring 2026 paying passenger services to the current reality of road tests with human drivers suggests that getting self-driving cars onto the streets of a dense, older city like London is harder than expected. Transport for London's oversight will play a big role in how quickly any of these companies can move from testing to offering rides people actually pay for.

The broader context here is how the Baidu, Lyft, and Freenow partnership is put together. Lyft's purchase of Freenow gives it a local team to manage the car fleet and handle passenger bookings across European markets. The fact that Baidu is pursuing testing with both Lyft and Uber in London tells us the company is choosing to work with multiple ride-hailing partners rather than tying itself to just one. Think of it the way a software company sells its product through several different stores rather than signing an exclusive deal with one, to reach as many customers as possible.

The move to test Apollo Go RT6 vehicles in London and Switzerland takes Baidu's self-driving operations beyond China for the first time. The RT6, built specifically for self-driving taxi use, will need to prove itself under European road conditions, European rules, and European rider expectations that are different from what it faces at home. How these London road tests go, especially under TfL's watch, could set a pattern for how other self-driving car companies win approval in the UK in the months ahead.