Lyft and Baidu Announce Strategic Robotaxi Partnership in Europe

US ride-hailing company Lyft and Chinese technology company Baidu unveiled a strategic alliance to introduce autonomous robotaxi services in Europe, marking Baidu's first significant entry into the European market. The collaboration aims to deploy Baidu’s sixth-generation Apollo Go RT6 electric vehicles pending regulatory approvals.

Under the agreement, Baidu will provide the autonomous vehicles, while Lyft will manage fleet operations and integrate the service into its platform. The initial rollout will focus on Germany and the UK, with plans to expand to thousands of vehicles across Europe in the following years. Lyft's recent acquisition of the European mobility app FreeNow, operating in nine countries and over 180 cities, provides a strong foundation for this expansion.

This partnership is part of a broader trend of Chinese companies expanding their autonomous vehicle operations internationally. Baidu's Apollo Go service has already completed over 11 million rides in 11 Chinese cities and plans expansion into Dubai and Abu Dhabi by 2026. 

The move positions Lyft to compete with other global players in the autonomous vehicle market, such as Uber, which has also partnered with Baidu for robotaxi deployments in Asia and the Middle East. However, experts caution that achieving profitability in the robotaxi sector may take years, as highlighted by a July 2024 HSBC report.

To know more about autonomous vehicles, read our article on self-driving trucks in transportation.

Earlier, Mastercard and Uber added instant payouts for drivers to modernize payments on the Uber platform.

Cover photo by Mike Tsitas on Unsplash