Robotaxis with a human safety net: Baidu and Lyft's Freenow pitch a hybrid model for London's taxis

London now has three self-driving taxi operators testing on the same streets, and they are selling three different products. On Tuesday, Baidu, Lyft, and Freenow put Apollo Go robotaxis on roads in the London Borough of Brent with human safety operators behind the wheel. Waymo has been testing in London since April. Uber and Wayve have a public-interest list open for a 2026 service. The Baidu-Lyft-Freenow group is the only one of the three whose pitch keeps professional taxi and private-hire drivers on the platform.

Lyft's European arm Freenow, the taxi and ride-hailing app Lyft acquired in 2025 for about $197 million, framed the London test as a "hybrid network" in which human drivers and robotaxis share the same app. The language echoes Freenow's own description of a hybrid future for taxis and autonomous vehicles. Baidu and Freenow announced the road test on Tuesday, nearly a year after Lyft and Baidu struck a partnership to deploy Apollo Go's purpose-built RT6 vehicle across key European markets.

That is a different bet than Waymo's. Waymo began testing autonomous vehicles with safety operators in London in April, per TechCrunch's coverage of the three-way race. Uber and Wayve have opened a public-interest list for a London robotaxi service targeted for 2026. Neither pitch centers the existing taxi workforce. Baidu, Lyft, and Freenow are centering it.

The choice has a concrete operational logic and a market-positioning logic. Operationally, a hybrid model lets the operator keep dispatching human drivers during regulatory pauses, sensor-edge-case handoffs, and weather or roadworks events that autonomous systems still struggle with. On positioning, it gives Freenow a way to put its existing driver relationships at the center of the London pitch, in a city where licensed black cab drivers have organized against ride-hailing before. Freenow CEO Thomas Zimmermann said the priority is "ensuring that autonomous technology supports the professional drivers who keep London moving," per the joint press release announcing the Brent test.

The test itself is narrow. The fleet is operating within the London Borough of Brent, and the cars are running with human safety operators on board, not driverless. Discussions are ongoing with Transport for London (TfL) and the UK government's Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV). The companies are aiming for public hail in 2027, conditional on UK regulatory approval. That is the load-bearing caveat: a public 2027 launch depends on a sign-off that has not happened yet.

The UK opened the path for that sign-off in May, when the government began accepting applications for a pilot program letting companies test self-driving vehicles under government oversight, with a longer-term pathway for passengers to book robotaxi and bus-style AV services. The Department for Transport announcement sets the regulatory frame the Brent test is operating inside. Whether the UK signs off on a full driverless pilot first, or a hybrid one, will determine which London pitch the public actually rides.

Lyft's own build-out has been pointing this way. The company has put Freenow at the lead of its European autonomous-vehicle framework out of Hamburg, per Lyft's blog on the partnership, and Freenow now hosts a public-facing page for the UK autonomous service. The London test is the first concrete European deployment of a robotaxi on a Lyft-controlled platform. It is also the first to be marketed as Freenow by Lyft, the combined brand.

Two things will shape the next phase. The first is whether TfL and CCAV clear a passenger-carrying leg of the Brent test, and on what terms: driverless, with safety operators, or a hybrid mix. The second is whether the UK signs off on a full driverless pilot before a hybrid one does. The order in which those two clearances land will set the template for every other European city Lyft and Baidu want to enter.