Lyft and Baidu Plan to Launch Robotaxis in Europe Next Year

Watch out, Europe -- the self-driving robotaxis are coming. Chinese internet giant Baidu and rideshare company Lyft plan to deploy Apollo Go RT6 vehicles in Germany and the UK starting next year.

The companies said that pending regulatory approval, the initial rollout will be followed by scaling up thousands of robotaxis across "key European platforms through the Lyft platform."

Lyft has only recently entered the European market with its acquisition of Freenow, announced in April.

US markets including Phoenix, Austin and San Francisco already have robotaxi services from companies including Waymo and Tesla. Uber recently announced a global plan to deploy robotaxis with Lucid and Nuro starting next year. 

For the robotaxi rollout, Baidu will be providing AI technology through its Apollo Go brand, but customers using the service would be hailing rides through Lyft's app and network.