From the BBC, December 22:
Chinese robotaxis could be set to hit UK roads in 2026 as ride-sharing apps Uber and Lyft announce partnerships with Baidu to trial the tech.
The two companies are hoping to obtain approval from regulators to test the autonomous vehicles in London.
Baidu's Apollo Go driverless taxi service already operates in dozens of cities, mostly in China, and has accrued millions of rides without a human behind the wheel.
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander said the news was "another vote of confidence in our plans for self-driving vehicles" - but many remain sceptical about their safety.
"We're planning for self-driving cars to carry passengers for the first time from spring, under our pilot scheme – harnessing this technology safely and responsibly to transform travel," Ms Alexander said in a post on X.
Uber said in June it would bring its plans to trial UK driverless cars forward as the government sought to accelerate framework to allow pilots of small autonomous "bus and taxi like" commercial services in 2026.
"We're excited to accelerate Britain's leadership in the future of mobility, bringing another safe and reliable travel option to Londoners next year," it said of its Baidu partnership on Monday.
Lyft said in August it would look to deploy driverless taxis in the UK and Germany as part of a European agreement with Baidu.
It already operates "autonomous rides" in Atlanta, US - where Uber also operates a robotaxi service through its partnership with Waymo.
Lyft chief executive David Risher said in a post on X on Monday London passengers would be "the first in the region to experience Baidu's Apollo Go vehicles".
But both firms still need to convince regulators.
Mr Risher said if green lit, Lyft's initial fleet of dozens of Baidu Apollo Go cars would begin testing next year "with plans to scale to hundreds from there".
But Jack Stilgoe, professor of science and technology policy at University College London, said driverless cars "can't just scale up like other digital technologies".
"There's a big difference between having a few test vehicles using public streets as their laboratory and a fully-developed, scaled-up system that becomes a real transport option for people," he told the BBC....
....MUCH MORE
Exiting from November 21's "‘Robotaxi has reached a tipping point’: Baidu, Nvidia leaders see momentum as competition rises":
As noted in the outro from December 2024's "Beijing unveils plans to boost driverless vehicle use in capital":
For folks who don't obsess about this stuff and read every bit and byte, a reminder that Baidu is Tesla's partner in Chinese robotaxis. If interested see some of the links in December 8's "There May Be Something To This Robotaxi Stuff: Uber And Lyft Got Spanked On Waymo Opening Florida Market (GOOG; UBER; LYFT; TSLA)"Years ago (2017) we were posting "Interview With CEO Robin Li on Baidu's (and China's) Goal Of Ruling Artificial Intelligence".
May 2024 - "Baidu Launches New $28,000 Robotaxi In Wuhan"
Although we had two posts on the subject I may not have emphasized enough how big an opportunity Elon Musk's deals with Baidu actually are. First, some background:
China has a communist government, they pick winners and losers in business, that's what communists do.
We first became aware of how important this understanding is in the case of the Chinese rare earth companies. Here's a snip from a 2009 post, "Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth Hi-Tech Co., Ltd. UP 10% Wednesday (600111: Shanghai)", this is a couple years before the twenty-tweens rare earth mania....
August 2025 - "Lyft and Baidu plan Eurobocab launch, starting in UK and Germany next year"
