Self-driving taxis could soon hit London streets as Uber and Lyft prepare separate 2026 trials in partnership with Chinese tech giant Baidu.
The trails are part of a broader push to bring autonomous technology to everyday travel, offering the potential to reduce traffic congestion and improve road safety.
The upcoming self-driving taxi trials in London will mark the first time that major US and Chinese autonomous vehicle companies are competing in a European capital, as per Sky News.
It comes after Waymo, a self-driving company owned by Google's parent company, Alphabets recently began its own supervised tests in London.
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.
Meanwhile, Wayve, a London-based start-up, plans to test self-driving taxis in 2026 using about $1 billion (£750 million) in funding from SoftBank and Uber.
Its AI technology can drive without pre-made maps, allowing it to navigate London’s complex streets independently.
However, introducing self-driving taxis has faced some challenges as there have been some incidents like a passenger nearly missing a flight when a robotaxi drive in circle.
Additionally, a study showed that although autonomous cars are generally safer than human-driven ones, they are less safe during certain conditions, such as at dawn or dusk, or when making turns.
