Baidu climbs on partnering with Uber, Lyft for UK robotaxi trials next year

Hong Kong shares of Chinese tech giant Baidu 9888.HK climb 1.4% to HK$122, their highest level since Dec 15

Stock on course for the biggest one-day pct rise since Dec 17, in its third straight session of gain

U.S.-listed stock BIDU.O gained 0.5% on Monday

Uber UBER.N and Lyft LYFT.O said on Monday they were teaming up with Baidu to launch driverless taxi trials in the UK next year

As part of the partnerships, Baidu's Apollo Go RT6 vehicles will join the London networks of the ride-hailing platforms in 2026

This will mark the first direct competition between U.S. and Chinese autonomous giants in a European capital, following Alphabet-owned GOOGL.O Waymo's recent start of supervised tests in the city

YTD, Hong Kong stock up 46%, U.S.-listed shares up 47.6%