Lyft, NuTonomy aim to put ‘thousands’ of self-driving cars on the road

PanARMENIAN.Net - Lyft announced a new partnership today with Boston-based self-driving car startup NuTonomy to eventually put “thousands” of on-demand, autonomous vehicles on the road. In the meantime, the two companies said they intend to launch a limited pilot in Boston within the next few months, in which Lyft users will be able to hail one of NuTonomy’s driverless vehicles by using Lyft’s app, The Verge says.

It’s not Lyft’s first dalliance with self-driving partnerships. Last month, the company announced its plan to work with Alphabet’s Waymo on autonomous technology. And previously, GM invested $500 million in Lyft with the goal of eventually deploying its driverless Chevy Bolts on the ride-hail network. John Zimmer and Logan Green, Lyft’s co-founders, are on record saying that they expect the majority of the company’s rides to take place in autonomous vehicles by 2021.

So while Lyft has declined to wade into the thorny mess of developing its own autonomous technology — probably for the best, considering the quagmire its main rival Uber currently finds itself in — it has racked up a host of eager partners willing to feature their own self-driving cars on Lyft’s app.

But if these new partnerships conflict in any way, Lyft wouldn’t say: in a call with reporters on Monday, June 5, Green would only say that each collaboration is unique to itself. “What we’re doing with other partners is very different,” Green said. Pressed on how exactly they are different, he replied, “I can’t comment on those other programs.”

A Lyft spokesperson later added, “We are not disclosing the details of the work we are doing with each partner. Overall, we're partnering with leaders in this space who share a vision of solving transportation issues and positively impact the future of our cities.”

Green said the first stage of his company’s partnership with NuTonomy will be focused on “R&D around understanding the passenger experience.” That will likely include bringing some elements of the Lyft app into the car itself. “There will be a version of the Lyft application running on a console inside the car,” Green confirmed.