Baidu's autonomous driving unit, Apollo Go, has recently made significant strides in its global expansion, with two major announcements in a single week. The company has initiated robotaxi trials in London, partnering with prominent ride-hailing services Uber and Freenow by Lyft. This strategic move follows its pioneering fully driverless trial in Hong Kong, underscoring Baidu's assertive approach to dominating the international self-driving vehicle landscape. These developments position Baidu as a frontrunner in the global race for autonomous transportation, demonstrating its technological prowess and strategic foresight in forging key alliances.
Baidu's Apollo Go Expands Autonomous Operations to London and Hong Kong
On July 28, 2026, Baidu's Apollo Go commenced its robotaxi road testing in London, collaborating with both Uber and Freenow by Lyft. The trials with Freenow by Lyft are taking place in Brent, a borough spanning west and northwest London, utilizing Apollo Go's sixth-generation RT6 autonomous vehicles. For the time being, safety operators are present in these vehicles, navigating a diverse range of urban and suburban environments. Both Apollo Go and Freenow by Lyft anticipate launching public rides by 2027, pending necessary regulatory approvals. This London expansion stems from two separate agreements Baidu secured in 2025. The partnership with Lyft aims to deploy thousands of Apollo Go vehicles across key European territories, while the Uber collaboration targets widespread implementation on Uber's platform in various global markets, excluding the US and mainland China. Interestingly, Uber and Lyft, fierce competitors, are both relying on Baidu's autonomous technology to integrate driverless cars into their respective fleets, highlighting the advanced capabilities of Baidu's stack.
Just days prior, on July 23, the Hong Kong Transport Department granted Apollo Go the city's inaugural fully driverless trial permit, with trials beginning on July 27 on Airport Island. This marks a pivotal moment, as there are no safety operators present in these vehicles, signifying the first Level 4 autonomous trial on Hong Kong's public roads and the first fully driverless trial in any right-hand-drive market globally. Commissioner for Transport Winnie Tse lauded this achievement as a crucial step towards realizing fully driverless, large-scale, and commercialized autonomous vehicle operations. Early observations from the Transport Department indicated successful navigation of pedestrians, adherence to traffic signals, and robust performance in heavy rain. The Airport Island route presents a challenging environment, including roundabouts, yield intersections, and varying traffic densities. Apollo Go had previously secured Hong Kong's pilot AV license in November 2024 and has since expanded its operations from Airport Island to North Lantau, Kowloon East, and Hong Kong Island South, accumulating over 240,000 kilometers of operational experience. The insights gained from Hong Kong are directly transferable to other right-hand-drive markets, including London.
Baidu's global footprint in autonomous driving is becoming increasingly broad. While most Western AV companies have yet to venture into right-hand-drive markets, Baidu is already testing in London and operating driverless cars in Hong Kong. In left-hand-drive regions, its lead is even more pronounced. Apollo Go offers fully driverless commercial services in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, secured a Level 4 permit in eastern Switzerland under the AmiGo brand, and remains the largest autonomous ride-hailing operator in China. Future expansion plans include Central Asia, with a memorandum of understanding signed with Freedom Holding at WAIC 2026 to explore service deployment in Kazakhstan. This extensive scale is supported by impressive statistics: Apollo Go surpassed 22 million cumulative rides by April 2026, with 3.2 million fully driverless rides in Q1 2026 alone, marking a more than 120% year-over-year increase. As of May, its fleets had covered over 330 million autonomous kilometers, with more than 220 million of those being fully driverless.
The rapid advancements and strategic global partnerships by Baidu's Apollo Go underscore a significant shift in the autonomous vehicle landscape. While the term 'testing' in London and Switzerland still implies supervised pilot programs, the fully driverless operations in Hong Kong highlight Baidu's technological edge. This dual strategy of supervised trials in new markets and full autonomy in controlled environments allows Baidu to gather crucial data and refine its technology for diverse driving conditions. The reliance of both Uber and Lyft on Baidu's autonomous stack further illustrates the competitive advantage and advanced capabilities of Chinese autonomy providers. This trajectory suggests that the future of robotaxis will increasingly be shaped by international collaborations and a push towards diverse market penetration, with Baidu leading the charge in expanding the reach of self-driving technology across continents.