Baidu and Lyft have announced a strategic partnership to deploy Baidu’s Apollo Go autonomous vehicles across key European markets.
Initial deployments are planned for Germany and the UK in 2026 pending regulatory approval, with the fleet scaling to thousands of vehicles across Europe in the following years.
“Our partnership with Lyft to deploy Apollo Go in Europe, starting with Germany and the United Kingdom, is a significant milestone in our global journey,” said Robin Li, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Baidu. “This collaboration represents our commitment to making autonomous mobility accessible worldwide while working with local partners who understand their communities. By integrating Baidu’s cutting-edge autonomous driving technology with Lyft’s platform reach and operational expertise, we’re excited to deliver safer, greener and more efficient mobility solutions to more users.”
“Our partnership with Baidu is all about creating a great customer experience. Their extensive track record operating the world’s largest autonomous ride-hailing service means we can bring all the benefits of AVs — safety, reliability and privacy — to millions of Europeans,” said David Risher, Lyft CEO. “It’s part of our hybrid network approach, where AVs and human drivers work together to provide customer-obsessed options for riders. And importantly, we’re committed to working hand-in-hand with local regulators to ensure we deploy these vehicles in their communities in a smart, thoughtful way that benefits everyone.”
Lyft will operate Baidu RT6 vehicles equipped with the Chinese tech company’s Apollo Go sensor suite, 10-layer safety redundancy architecture and intelligent interaction design. Baidu’s Apollo Go currently deploys over 1,000 operational AVs globally.
Building Europe’s autonomous network
The partnership aims to transform European mobility. Lyft will own the operational value chain and marketplace while Baidu will provide the vehicles, technology validation and comprehensive technical support.
Apollo Go’s fully-electric RT6 vehicles are designed for rideshare operations, leveraging the Apollo autonomous driving foundation model (ADFM), the underlying technology powering Apollo Go, which has six generations of real-world testing. When launched, RT6 rides will be available through the Lyft ecosystem.
With operations covering over 3,000km2 in Wuhan alone and over 11 million completed rides globally, Baidu has demonstrated the ability to scale from test operations to full commercial deployment.
Lyft will serve as Baidu’s first European rideshare partner, and will leverage its acquisition on July 31 of European mobility app FreeNow – which operates in nine European countries and over 180 cities – to accelerate AV deployment.
In related news, WeRide and Uber Technologies have started operating their robotaxis on Al Reem and Al Maryah Islands in Abu Dhabi, in partnership with the Integrated Transport Centre. Read the full story here