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.Â
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.
Europe's robotaxi future
Europe's future for autonomous passenger services may be a longer road, said Katie Driggs-Campbell, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the Grainger College of Engineering.Â
"There is much more regulation and concern over privacy, so I imagine there's a stronger push to take care over sensing and perception that powers the autonomous vehicles," she said.
Automakers in Europe have been exploring safety systems for autonomous driving for a long time, she says. In addition to features for robotaxis, cars sold in Europe are ramping up more autonomous features.
Driggs-Campbell said that in the US, Waymo has done a good job rolling out reliable service, but the challenge for all of these companies is turning a profit on trips and expanding robotaxi services to new areas.Â
"I am also interested to see how the competitors scale to new cities and countries, as the current solutions seem to be tuned to a specific area," she said.