Lyft is scrambling to compete as Uber racks up autonomous car (AV) companions. On Monday, Lyft mentioned it partnered with Japanese conglomerate Marubeni to convey robotaxis to Dallas roads as quickly as subsequent 12 months earlier than increasing to “1000’s of autos” in different cities.
It’s the primary fruit from Lyft’s Mobileye partnership, introduced in November. TechCrunch notes that the Intel-owned Mobileye’s tech is already obtainable in fashions from (amongst others) Audi, Ford, GM, Nissan and Volkswagen. Lyft hasn’t but mentioned which automaker(s) it’s partnering with for the Dallas rollout. However Lyft government vp of driver expertise Jeremy Chook informed TechCrunch that it’s in talks with “each main autonomous carmaker.”
Marubeni, which owns subsidiaries in industries starting from cereal to fossil fuels (fortuitously, not in the identical product), owns and manages fleets with over 900,000 autos throughout the globe. The corporate’s Mobileye-equipped robotaxis shall be obtainable for folk in Dallas to hail by way of the Lyft app after this system launches.
Though the Dallas launch will function Lyft’s pilot program for Mobileye AVs, it could not find yourself being the corporate’s subsequent robotaxi rollout. Final 12 months, it additionally partnered with AV firm Could Mobility and goals to convey robotaxis with its tech to Atlanta someday in 2025.
The strain is on Lyft to maintain up, as Uber has inked offers with an extended record of corporations within the AV area, together with Avride, Aurora Innovation, Nuro, Waabi and Wayve. Uber and Alphabet’s Waymo additionally plan to launch AV fleets in Austin and Atlanta early this 12 months. (The waitlist is already open.) Tesla has additionally mentioned it plans to introduce its first autonomous car service in Austin this June.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/lyft-aims-for-a-2026-dallas-launch-of-its-first-mobileye-robotaxis-190137968.html?src=rss