** 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%

(Reporting by Donny Kwok)

((donny.kwok@thomsonreuters.com))