Baidu's robotaxi rolls into London, with paid rides pencilled in for 2027

Apollo Go and Freenow have begun road testing driverless cars in a London borough, aiming for public rides in 2027 if regulators sign off.

Baidu's Apollo Go and Lyft-owned Freenow have started road testing robotaxis in London's borough of Brent, covering both urban and suburban driving. The tests use Apollo Go's sixth-generation vehicle, the RT6, with safety operators on board. Baidu provides the cars and autonomous technology; Freenow handles local operations. The two partners, whose tie-up dates to 2025, plan to begin public rides in 2027, subject to regulatory approval.

The London push builds on a large operating base. Baidu says Apollo Go had logged more than 22 million cumulative public rides as of April 2026, and completed 3.2 million fully driverless rides in the first quarter alone, up more than 120% year on year. As of May 2026 it operated in 27 cities and had accumulated over 330 million autonomous kilometers, more than 220 million of them fully driverless. In July 2026 it also secured Hong Kong's first fully driverless trial permit.

If paid service arrives, London gains another route to mobility that does not depend on car ownership or a human driver's availability. Autonomous fleets, once proven and priced, can extend affordable point-to-point transport across a dense city — the kind of access that widens who can move and when.

What to watch is regulatory: Freenow and Lyft have held discussions with Transport for London and the government's autonomous vehicle body, but no final approval is confirmed. The 2027 timeline remains conditional, and current tests still carry human safety operators.

Source: CnEVPost