Lyft Users Will Soon Be Able to Summon a Self-Driving Waymo Minivan in Arizona
【Summary】Waymo CEO John Krafcik announced that Waymo’s self-driving minivans will be offered on the Lyft app. It’s the first time that Waymo is sharing its autonomous vehicle technology with a competing ride-hailing network.

Google is holding its annual I/O developer conference this week in Mountain View, CA, announcing all of the latest news from the company. One of today's big announcements comes in a blog post from Waymo CEO John Krafcik, who said that Waymo's self-driving minivans will be offered on ride-hailing company Lyft's app.
It's the first time that Waymo is sharing its autonomous vehicle technology with a competing ride-hailing company.
Waymo is the self-driving division of parent Alphabet and is focused on "building the world's most experienced driver."
In a blog post today, Krafcik said that Waymo will deploy ten self-driving vehicles on Lyft's network over the next few months. Once the self-driving Waymo vehicles are on the platform, Lyft users in the area will have the option to select one directly from the Lyft app for certain rides.
For most of the people using Lyft, the ride in a Waymo self-driving minivan will be the first time they experience being a passenger in a self-driving vehicle, and another good way for Waymo to show off its latest software to the public.
"We're excited to collaborate with the Lyft team as we build the world's Most Experienced Driver, bringing fully self-driving technology to the world to improve road safety and make it easier for people to get around." Waymo wrote in a blog post.
Waymo said in a blog post that its committed to continuously improving the customer experience, and its partnership with Lyft will also give Waymo the opportunity to collect valuable feedback from passengers, including how comfortable they are with riding in a self-driving car and how they use the service.
Waymo spun out of Google's early self-driving car program. The company has been working on driverless technology for the past decade, racking up millions of miles on public roads and billions more in simulation with its fleet of autonomous vehicles, all without a major incident.
Waymo launched an early version of its upcoming commercial self-driving ride-hailing service called Waymo One six months ago in the Metro Phoenix area. The company says it currently has 1,000 riders in its "Early Rider Program" that get access to Waymo cars each day to commute to and from work, run errands, drop their kids off at school, go grocery shopping.
Waymo has plans to expands its commercial ride-hailing service to other cities, eventually adding thousands of self-driving vehicles to its platform. The Waymo One ride-hailing service might eventually compete with both Lyft and Uber.
Both Lyft and its chief U.S. rival Uber are developing driverless technology and Lyft's partnership with Waymo might open the door to other collaborations within the industry.
Lyft became the first ride-hailing company to go public in the U.S., beating rival Uber to an IPO. Lyft's stock began trading on March 29. Since then, Lyft's shares fell 31% from their opening trade of $87.24.
Lyft and Uber have struggled to curb massive losses and both companies remain unprofitable. Uber is launching its own IPO this week and is looking for a valuation up to $100 billion.
One path towards profitability is replacing its drivers with autonomous driving vehicles, or even leasing the vehicles from Waymo.
-
EV Startup Faraday Future Moves its Headquarters to China
-
Lucid’s New ‘Stealth Look’ Appearance Package for the Electric Air Sedan Compliments its High Performance DNA
-
Toyota’s Redesigned Prius May Get More Drivers Behind the Wheel of a Hybrid Vehicle
-
Toyota to Collaborate With Texas-based Utility Provider Oncor to Accelerate a Vehicle-to-Grid EV Charging Ecosystem
-
Stellantis to Idle its Illinois Assembly Plant Indefinitely, Citing the High Costs of Electric Vehicles
-
Apple Delays its Long Rumored Electric ‘Apple Car’ Until 2026, According to Sources
-
The World’s First Level-4 Automated Parking Feature Developed by Mercedes-Benz and Bosch is Approved for Commercial Use
-
Hyundai Motor Group Signs MoU with SK On Co. to Secure Batteries for EVs Built in the U.S.
- EV Startup NIO to Launch a New Mass-Market Brand to Rival Tesla with an Annual Capacity of 500,000 Vehicles a Year
- The Polestar 5 Sedan Will Have Dual Electric Motors With 884 HP
- GM Offering to Buy Out Buick Dealers That Don’t Want to Sell EVs
- Toyota is Working With the U.S. Dept of Energy to Advance ‘Megawatt-Scale’ Fuel Cell Powered Stationary Energy Generators
- GM CEO Mary Barra Shares the First Look at the New Chevy Blazer EV Launching in Spring 2023
- Intel’s Self-Driving Car Unit Mobileye Postpones its Planned U.S. IPO That Could Value the Company up to $50 Billion
- Ford Issues ‘Stop Sale’ of the Electric Mustang Mach-E Over Possible Loss of Propulsion While Driving
- AI-Powered Computer Vision Perception Developer StradVision Closes on $88 Million Series C Funding Round
- Ford Motor Co is Recalling 2.9 Million Vehicle That Could ‘Roll Away’ After the Transmission is Shifted Into Park
- Amazon Customers in Texas and California Will Begin Receiving Packages via Prime Air Drones Later This Year