Lyft to roll out robotaxis in Atlanta
Lyft is about to enter the more and more aggressive world of robotaxis.
The ride-hailing firm stated Friday that customers will be capable to take rides in self-driving vehicles beginning this summer season, with autonomous automobiles first hitting the streets of Atlanta.
The rollout can be accomplished in partnership with Might Mobility, an autonomous car firm. Its self-driving know-how can be put in in Toyota Sienna minivans that customers may have the prospect to take rides in.
A Lyft spokesperson added that the corporate’s subsequent cease can be Dallas, the place the corporate can be aiming to deploy self-driving automobiles in partnership with the businesses Mobileye and Marubeni as quickly as subsequent yr, with “hundreds of automobiles and extra cities to observe.”
In an announcement launched Thursday, Jeremy Chook, Lyft’s government vp of driver expertise, stated the brand new enterprise may create extra alternatives for Lyft drivers to earn cash off the clock by buying their very own AVs.
“Drivers at this time come to the Lyft platform for a lot of causes, however one of many fundamental attracts is the pliability it presents,” Chook wrote. “The one restrict is their very own schedule, since they must be out there to drive. This can be a very actual hurdle at this time, however over time, personally-owned AVs will take away even this restrict — permitting folks to earn whereas they’re working one other job, or taking good care of their households, or sleeping.”
Robotaxis utilizing self-driving know-how can now be discovered on the streets of at the very least 4 U.S. cities and much more overseas, with many main tech firms competing for what analysts consider could possibly be a market that’s value billions if not trillions. Alphabet’s Waymo, Tesla and Amazon are all pushing ahead with self-driving automotive know-how, a lot of which is already discovering its method into ride-sharing vehicles.
In October 2023, Uber introduced it might be partnering with Waymo to start providing self-driving automotive rides in Phoenix. Since then, the corporate has expanded to supply AVs in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin, Texas, with plans to develop to Miami in 2026.
Regardless of the rising presence of AVs, some ride-share clients are cautious of the brand new know-how. Based on a 2023 survey by the American Car Affiliation, 68% of drivers are afraid of autonomous automobiles. Incidents involving Waymo automobiles have included a automotive caught spinning in circles and a crash right into a stationary pole. Even so, Waymo supplies round 200,000 self-driving taxi rides each week, based on Forbes.
“I’m not a impartial observer. I’m rooting for AVs, not simply as a shopper, however as a result of I feel they’ll be nice for Lyft, in addition to the riders and drivers on our platform,” Lyft CEO David Risher wrote in a February assertion. “AVs develop the general rideshare market by offering a protected, participating, novel mode of transportation, making it even simpler for folks to get out and about.”
