Uber and Lyft ‌are both planning to launch driverless taxi trials in London in 2026, in separate partnerships with Chinese tech giant Baidu. The move reinforces the UK‘s role as Europe’s leading testbed for commercialising robotaxis, fuelled by the Automated Vehicles Act 2024 which provides a legal framework for driverless car ‌liability. It also sets the scene for the competing trials between US and Chinese autonomous giants for the first time in a European capital, following Alphabet-owned Waymo’s recent start of supervised tests in ‍London. Image: Lyft’s boss, revealed the trials would use Apollo Go RT6 vehicles that are “purpose-built for rideshare”. Pic: Reuters David Risher, Lyft’s boss, revealed the company’s trials would use Apollo Go RT6 vehicles that are “purpose-built for rideshare”. “We expect to start testing our initial fleet with dozens of vehicles next year – pending regulatory approval,” Risher said. The company “plans to scale to hundreds from there,” he added. Baidu is racing against rivals like Waymo, owned by Google parent Alphabet, whose cars have already been seen on London’s streets. …