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2026 looks set to be the year of robotaxis here in London. That’s right – cabs without human drivers will be cruising around the Big Smoke as soon as next year. Last week, we shared a first look at Waymo’s autonomous vehicles, which are due start picking up passengers in the next 12 months, and now another company has entered the mix.
Chinese AI company Baidu is set to launch self-driving taxis in London, too. Working in collaboration with Lyft and Uber, it plans to begin testing the vehicles on London’s roads in 2026, pending regulatory approval.
Baido’s Apollo Go vehicles already ferry people around cities across China. The cars are fully electric and have been designed from the outset to operate without a driver. That means they’ve been built with enhanced passenger experience in mind with features like reclining seats with massage features, panoramic sky roofs and mood lighting options.
Lyft, which only launched in London this year, said that its partnership with Baido is part of its mission to create a ‘hybrid network’ of self-driving vehicles and human drivers to meet London’s transportation needs and revealed that work is already under way with Transport for London, regulators and local communities.
In an announcement on LinkedIn, Lyft CEO David Risher wrote: ‘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.
‘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.’
Did you see that flying taxis will start operating in London by 2028 (apparently)?
Plus: A vast new cycle route is planned for north London.
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