Baidu’s Apollo Go has begun road testing its sixth-generation RT6 autonomous vehicles in the London borough of Brent, with public rides targeted for 2027. Testing runs with safety operators on board across a mix of urban and suburban driving environments. Baidu said this week that its autonomous ride-hailing platform, Apollo Go, is running the London program with Freenow by Lyft, which contributes local operational expertise while Apollo Go supplies the vehicles and the autonomous driving technology. Opening the service to public riders remains subject to regulatory approvals.
Highlights
- Initial road testing covers the RT6, Apollo Go’s sixth-generation autonomous vehicle, in Brent, a borough in west and northwest London.
- Public riders are planned starting in 2027, pending regulatory approval.
- Apollo Go received Hong Kong’s first fully driverless trial permit on July 23, 2026, with testing beginning on Airport Island on July 27.
- The company reported 3.2 million fully driverless rides in Q1 2026 and operations across 27 cities as of May.
Testing Starts in a Single Borough
The London program is confined at the outset to Brent, which spans west and northwest London and gives the fleet a mix of dense urban streets and lower-density suburban roads. Safety operators remain on board throughout this phase.
The deployment builds on the strategic partnership Baidu and Lyft announced in 2025 to deploy Apollo Go autonomous vehicles across key European markets through the Lyft platform. The division of labor is explicit: Apollo Go provides the RT6 vehicles and the autonomous driving technology, while Freenow by Lyft handles local operations.
“The arrival of Apollo Go vehicles in London marks a defining milestone in our global expansion,” said Nan Yang, Vice President of Baidu and General Manager of Overseas Business Unit, Intelligent Driving Group. “Testing our autonomous fleet in one of the world’s most iconic and complex urban environments validates our technology’s maturity and our commitment to this market. By combining our cutting-edge autonomous driving technology with Freenow by Lyft’s local operational expertise, we are officially moving from vision to reality, together.”
Why Does Hong Kong Matter for the London Program?
Hong Kong is Apollo Go’s first right-hand-drive market, and Baidu positions it as the technical groundwork for London. On July 23, 2026, Apollo Go received Hong Kong’s first fully driverless trial permit from the territory’s Transport Department, with testing beginning on Airport Island on July 27. According to Baidu, that program is Hong Kong’s first Level 4 autonomous trial on public roads without an on-board safety operator, and the first fully driverless trial in any right-hand-drive market globally.
Robotaxis Join an Existing Taxi Network
The RT6 vehicles will operate as part of a hybrid network alongside Freenow’s established taxi and private hire vehicles. The company says riders should see faster pickup times as the number of vehicles on the platform increases.
“As a platform with deep roots in the taxi industry, our priority is ensuring that autonomous technology supports the professional drivers who keep London moving,” said Thomas Zimmermann, CEO of Freenow by Lyft. “By integrating these purpose-built, autonomous vehicles from Baidu’s Apollo Go into the Freenow by Lyft ecosystem, we will give Londoners more sustainable choices to travel, encouraging them to choose shared mobility services over personally-owned vehicles.”
Research commissioned by Freenow by Lyft with Censuswide in March 2026, sampling 3,001 respondents, found 58% of Londoners saying they would be likely to try an autonomous vehicle, with nearly two-thirds of those under 35 in favor.
Operating Scale Behind the London Entry
As of April 2026, Apollo Go had provided more than 22 million cumulative rides to the public. In Q1 2026 alone, the platform completed 3.2 million fully driverless rides, a volume Baidu says is growing at more than 120% year-over-year. As of May, its footprint spanned 27 cities, and its fleets had accumulated over 205 million miles (330 million km) of autonomous driving globally, including more than 137 million miles (220 million km) fully driverless — all while maintaining a strong safety record, according to the company.
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