Communities like expatriates in Germany are going crazy for this, and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t. This 2026, the land of fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm is getting robotaxis, care of Lyft.
The ridesharing app giant has officially unveiled that it will launch these self-driving taxis in central European countries next year. This is part of the ongoing partnership that Lyft has forged with Baidu, a Chinese company.
This project has been announced alongside the other fruits of the partnership, the Ridesharing Forum report noted.
“By integrating Baidu’s cutting-edge autonomous driving technology with Lyft’s platform reach and operational expertise, we’re excited to deliver safer, greener, and more efficient mobility solutions to more users,” Baidu’s chairman, Robin Li, emphasized in the report.
According to Lyft, the initial deployments planned for this campaign in Germany and the United Kingdom this 2026 are set, but they are still in pending regulatory approval status, “with the fleet scaling to thousands of vehicles across Europe in the following years.”
But, passengers and stakeholders must just trust the process. The regulatory institutions only need questions answered and they got concerns on safety, data protection, and liability.
The robotaxis, a mix of minivans and SUVs, will be produced and distributed by the Chinese company, which is the first time their automated vehicles are used in Europe.
Freenow will take care of the market access for the robotaxis. Lyft owns Freenow, which it purchased last July 2025.
Asked if Lyft is going to make the lives of human drivers miserable because of this action, one of its managers, Donny Nordlicht stated it won’t and it never will.
“The future of our industry is likely to be a hybrid one of autonomous taxis and the taxis we know, with drivers,” Nordlicht told ridesharing media, adding that Lyft just wanted to “build on” the public transport services offered in Europe.
Last July, you could recall how taxi drivers protested across dozens of German cities, demanding more stringent regulations on car-hire services like Uber, Freenow, and Bolt to place limits over unfair pricing competition.
“We are demanding equality of arms: minimum prices for everyone, not just for us,” Michael Oppermann of the German Taxi and Rental Car Association stated.
So far, there has been no city in Germany that has introduced a minimum pricing regulation for ride-sharing platforms, but Berlin has been considering the policy since January 2025.
Generally, Lyft works with you downloading, launching, and owning the app, pinning your locations – pick-up point and destination – and choosing the car service you want.
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