Baidu volition bring its driverless taxis to Europe adjacent twelvemonth via a concern with U.S. ridehailing steadfast Lyft, arsenic the Chinese tech elephantine looks to grow its autonomous vehicles globally.
The robotaxis volition initially beryllium deployed successful the U.K. and Germany from 2026 with the purpose to person "thousands" of vehicles crossed Europe successful the "following years," the 2 companies said.
Lyft has had precise small beingness successful Europe until past week erstwhile it closed the acquisition of Germany-based thrust hailing institution FreeNow, which is disposable successful implicit 150 cities crossed 9 countries, including Ireland, the U.K., Germany and France.
Deployment of the autonomous cars is "pending regulatory approval," Lyft and Baidu said successful a Monday statement. It's unclear if Lyft volition connection Baidu's robotaxis via the FreeNow app oregon different product.
The concern marks a continued propulsion from Baidu to grow its robotaxis to planetary markets.
Last month, Baidu partnered with Uber to deploy its autonomous cars connected the ride-hailing giant's level extracurricular the U.S. and mainland China, with a absorption connected the Middle East and Asia.
In China, Baidu has been operating its ain robotaxi service since 2021 successful large cities similar Beijing, allowing users to hail an Apollo Go car done the app.
For Lyft, the woody with Baidu could adhd a constituent of differentiation successful Europe, pitting it against rivals specified arsenic Uber and Bolt arsenic it looks to summation a foothold successful the region.
Autonomous vehicles person go a large absorption for ride-hailing companies which person looked to spouse with companies that are processing the exertion for driverless cars.
In the U.K., a marketplace that Lyft is targeting, Uber this twelvemonth partnered with self-driving car exertion steadfast Wayve to motorboat trials of afloat autonomous rides starting successful outpouring 2026.
English (US) ·