Why Uber stock is climbing as robotaxis testing will hit London streets next year after partnership with Baidu
London is quickly becoming a testing ground for robotaxi developers. Alphabet-backed Waymo began testing autonomous rides in the city in October and has said it hopes to launch a commercial service in 2026. Baidu brings significant scale to the partnership. The company said in its third-quarter report that Apollo Go has completed more than 17 million rides across 22 cities as of October 31. By comparison, Waymo recently said it expects to surpass 20 million lifetime trips by the end of 2025. While Waymo has focused primarily on the US, Baidu has expanded beyond China into parts of the Middle East and now Europe.