Baidu, Inc.（百度）has begun testing its Apollo Go（萝卜快跑）autonomous vehicles on public roads in London with Freenow by Lyft, marking the Chinese company’s first road deployment in the British capital.
Initial testing of Apollo Go’s sixth-generation RT6 vehicles began on July 28 in Brent, a borough in west and northwest London. Safety operators will remain on board during the current phase, which covers a combination of urban and suburban driving environments.
The companies plan to begin carrying members of the public in 2027, subject to regulatory approvals. The current program is therefore a supervised technology and operational test rather than a driverless commercial robotaxi service.
Under the partnership, Apollo Go is supplying the RT6 vehicles and autonomous-driving technology. Freenow by Lyft is providing local operational expertise and is expected to incorporate the vehicles into a network that also includes taxis and private-hire cars.
Lyft acquired European mobility platform Freenow in July 2025. Baidu and Lyft had announced a strategic partnership the previous month to deploy Apollo Go vehicles initially in the United Kingdom and Germany, with broader European expansion planned in subsequent years.
Lyft previously said it expected to begin with dozens of vehicles in London and eventually expand the fleet to hundreds, subject to approval. The companies did not disclose how many vehicles are participating in the testing that began in Brent.
Baidu also has a separate autonomous-vehicle partnership with Uber. The two companies announced in December 2025 that they intended to participate in a London pilot using Apollo Go vehicles. However, the July 28 announcement covering the start of road testing identifies Freenow by Lyft as the operating partner and does not state that Uber has joined the current Brent program.
The wider Baidu-Uber partnership has already progressed in other markets. In February 2026, the companies announced plans to make Apollo Go autonomous rides available through the Uber platform in selected parts of Dubai in cooperation with the city’s Roads and Transport Authority.
London presents a different operating environment from mainland China. Vehicles travel on the left side of the road, requiring Apollo Go to adapt its system and RT6 vehicles for a right-hand-drive market. The city’s dense traffic, narrow streets and frequent interactions with cyclists and pedestrians will also form part of the testing environment.
The London program follows an expansion of Apollo Go’s testing in Hong Kong. On July 23, the platform received what Baidu described as Hong Kong’s first permit for a fully driverless trial without an onboard safety operator. Testing under that permit began on Airport Island on July 27, one day before the London announcement.
Unlike the London tests, which initially have safety operators in the vehicles, Baidu said the new Hong Kong trial is being conducted without an onboard safety operator. The company described it as its first fully driverless trial in a right-hand-drive market.
Apollo Go had provided more than 22 million cumulative rides to the public as of April 2026, according to Baidu. It completed 3.2 million fully driverless rides during the first quarter, up more than 120% from a year earlier.
By May, Apollo Go’s testing and operating footprint covered 27 cities. Its vehicles had accumulated more than 330 million autonomous kilometers, including over 220 million kilometers driven without an onboard safety operator, the company said.
Any passenger service in London will require further regulatory clearance. Under Britain’s automated passenger services framework, operators must obtain a permit from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency. Services operating in London also require consent from Transport for London.
The United Kingdom expects the full regulatory framework established by the Automated Vehicles Act 2024 to take effect in the second half of 2027. Until Apollo Go and Freenow obtain the necessary approvals, the London deployment remains a supervised testing program rather than an open robotaxi service.