Lyft and Baidu plan to carry their robotaxis to the UK and Germany subsequent yr

Lyft and Baidu have shed extra gentle on their plan for a . After the primary rollouts — that are earmarked for Asia and the Center East later this yr — the businesses have their designs set on Europe. They’re robotaxis within the UK and Germany in 2026, so long as they get approval from regulators. The aim is to then increase the European fleet to 1000’s of automobiles throughout the continent within the following years.

Baidu is utilizing its sixth-generation Apollo Go automobiles for this rollout. As soon as the robotaxis begin operations in a given market, shoppers will have the ability to ebook rides in them through the Lyft app.

Lyft says that it’ll leverage its recent acquisition of taxi company Freenow to hurry up deployment of autonomous automobiles, on condition that platform’s established foothold within the UK and Germany. The partnership between Lyft and Baidu, which the pair introduced final month, follows Baidu to start out testing Apollo Go in Europe later this yr.