AIBRIEF
Dozens of Baidu Apollo Go robotaxis — the Chinese tech giant's self driving cars — are driving Brent with safety operators, the first on street result of a partnership that will brand consumer rides Freenow by Lyft, the European taxi app Lyft owns.
Baidu's Apollo Go RT6 robotaxis are now driving the Brent borough of London with human safety operators aboard, the first on-street result of the Lyft and Baidu partnership that the companies say will eventually carry paying passengers under the brand Freenow by Lyft.
The Brent trial uses "dozens" of Apollo Go RT6 vehicles, per a joint Lyft, Baidu, and Freenow press release re-reported by Engadget. Lyft acquired Freenow, the UK-and-Germany taxi and private-hire operator, last year; the company is using the European dispatch network as the wedge for a 2027 public-ride rollout. Booking through Lyft and Freenow apps is slated to start in 2026, with public reservations expected in 2027, contingent on Transport for London coordination and UK autonomous-vehicle rules still being drafted.
London is becoming a four-player robotaxi test market. Waymo has been running Jaguar I-Pace vehicles with safety operators in the city earlier in 2026; Uber and self-driving partner Wayve are lining up their own trials and have started accepting interest-list sign-ups. The first operator to clear UK AV rules and TfL coordination gets a head start on European scale; the Lyft and Baidu partnership is built around that bet.
The "thousands of autonomous vehicles across Europe" figure tied to the partnership is a stated ambition, not a confirmed fleet plan, and "dozens" is a press-release round number rather than a verified count. Fleet size and the 2027 public-ride date both hinge on UK rulemaking that has not yet landed.