Lyft partners with Waymo on self-driving car collaboration
Waymo, Google’s self-driving car division, has teamed up with wide-hailing service Lyft, in an effort to put both companies’ respective automated vehicle programmes onto the fast lane.
Lyft partners with Waymo on self-driving car collaboration
Outlining where they see the tie-up heading Lyft said in a statement: “Waymo holds today’s best self-driving technology, and collaborating with them will accelerate our shared vision of improving lives with the world’s best transportation.”
Outlining the Waymo perspective on events a spokesman added: “Waymo holds today’s best self-driving technology, and collaborating with them will accelerate our shared vision of improving lives with the world’s best transportation.”
Reports in the New York Times suggest that Lyft will use its expertise in building a network of passengers and drivers as a ready-made market for self-driving services when they first make their public debut. Waymo meanwhile is also in discussions with vehicle manufacturers such as Fiat Chrysler and Honda to give it access to manufacturing capacity.
A tie-up also gives Lyft a leg-up in its own race with chief competitor Uber, which is currently bogged down in a lawsuit with Waymo over the alleged theft of trade secrets to further its own research and development.
The autonomous vehicle sector has experienced a wave of consolidations in recent months as backers seek to ramp up their efforts to be first to market now that the long-heralded dream of AI-powered transport appears to be close.
Driverless cars became a reality on London streets several months ago to little fanfare.