Tech Voices: Baidu-Lyft robotaxis, Spotify, Musk’s Tesla stock award

Seeking Alpha’s roundup of statements, announcements and remarks that could impact the technology sector.

-Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) and China’s Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) are teaming up to launch a robotaxi service in Europe next year. Under the partnership, riders will be able to access Baidu’s Apollo Go autonomous vehicles via the Lyft platform.

“Our partnership with Baidu is all about creating a great customer experience. Their extensive track record operating the world’s largest autonomous ride-hailing service means we can bring all the benefits of AVs — safety, reliability, and privacy — to millions of Europeans,” said Lyft CEO David Risher, in a statement.

“It’s part of our hybrid network approach, where AVs and human drivers work together to provide customer-obsessed options for riders. And importantly, we’re committed to working hand-in-hand with local regulators to ensure we deploy these vehicles in their communities in a smart, thoughtful way that benefits everyone,” Risher added.

The companies said they plan to launch the service in Germany and the U.K. in 2026, pending regulatory approval, “with the fleet scaling to thousands of vehicles across Europe in the following years.”

Other leading competitors in the robotaxi market include Alphabet’s Waymo (GOOGL) (GOOG), which has partnerships with Uber (UBER) and Avis Budget (CAR); Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA); and Amazon’s (AMZN) Zoox. Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) and Uber (UBER) also recently announced a partnership to provide robotaxi services in Asia.

• Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) said it plans to hike the monthly price for its Premium subscription, beginning in September.

“Over the next month, Premium subscribers in multiple markets across South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific region will receive an email explaining what this update means for their subscriptions,” Spotify said in an announcement.

The company also posted an example of the notice that subscribers would get, which said that a Premium subscription would climb to 11.99 euros a month from 10.99 euros a month.

• Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) board has approved an award of 96 million Tesla restricted shares to Elon Musk under its 2019 equity incentive plan, according to an SEC filing on Sunday.

“The 2025 CEO Interim Award was recommended by the Special Committee on August 1, 2025, and approved by the Board, with Mr. Musk and Kimbal Musk recusing, on August 3, 2025,” the company said in the filing. The shares would vest in two years as long as Musk remains as CEO or an executive officer of the company, Tesla added.

The filing also said the award would be forfeited if a court rules that Musk can exercise a larger pay package awarded to him in 2018. The case is currently in litigation in Delaware, CNBC noted.

CNBC estimated Musk’s 2025 award to be worth around $29 billion. The value of his 2018 pay package was $56 billion.