Lyft, the ride-hailing app provider which claims it is now “one of North America’s largest transportation networks”, has revealed plans for new “multiple autonomous vehicle partnerships” to connect the Lyft community with future autonomous vehicle rides in the Lyft app.
Lyft says the new agreements are its next step in delivering autonomous vehicle rides to millions of people. Lyft and Mobileye, a developer of self-driving tech and advanced driver assistance systems, plan to bring autonomous vehicles to the Lyft network.
Through this partnership, Lyft will make its scaled rideshare platform available to all vehicles with Mobileye’s self-driving technology.
Vehicles equipped with Mobileye Drive technology will hit the road “Lyft-ready” – giving small and large fleet operators seamless access to Lyft’s platform and network of riders to optimize their vehicles.
Beyond pioneering a new distribution channel for autonomous vehicles through its alliance with Mobileye, Lyft is solving for other key parts of the driverless vehicle value chain with May Mobility and Nexar.
May Mobility will directly deploy autonomous vehicles to the Lyft platform in Atlanta, Georgia starting in 2025.
Atlanta riders will have the opportunity to be matched with a fleet of autonomous Toyota Sienna minivans equipped with May Mobility’s autonomous technology, a deployment that Lyft and May Mobility aim to scale over time across multiple markets.
Nexar and Lyft will explore ways to harness the power of aggregated, anonymized marketplace and fleet data to help OEMs and autonomous vehicle companies build better and safer autonomous technology.
By pairing Lyft data with Nexar’s hundreds of millions of hours of video footage, we can jointly contribute to a more complete data set for autonomous research and development.
David Risher, CEO of Lyft, says: “We’re thrilled to work with Mobileye, May Mobility, and Nexar to build the autonomous future together, with more partnerships to follow.
“Lyft’s aim is to connect AVs (autonomous vehicles), drivers, riders, and partners to create new opportunities for all. Our rideshare network will continue to evolve as millions of people will have the opportunity to earn billions of dollars whether they choose to drive, put their AVs into service, or both.”
Professor Amnon Shashua, president and CEO of Mobileye, says: “Cooperating with leading mobility providers and operators is an essential step to bring autonomous mobility services to reality.
“Enabling Mobileye Drive with Lyft’s network of 40 million annual riders in North America would allow our AV customers to reach new markets and geographies with autonomous services and provide the benefits of the technology through a sustainable business.”
Lyft says its rideshare network offers a way for autonomous vehicles to scale, and for partners to monetize their technology. The platform gives autonomous vehicle partners access to “40 million riders annually”, and provides fleet management capabilities that streamline on-boarding, off-boarding, and vehicle servicing.
The “Lyft-ready” model is described as a “turnkey solution”, enabling partners to deploy autonomous vehicles to Lyft’s marketplace, effectively commercialize these deployments, and maximize their vehicle utilization.
Lyft says it will continue to partner with additional industry leaders to “shape the future of mobility”.
