Lyft will begin offering Waymo self-driving car rides in Phoenix
The partnership between the ride-hailing company and the self-driving car giant could be the start of something huge.
Waymo has been running its Waymo One self-driving car taxi service in the Phoenix metro area for a while now, and for the most part, it's been pretty successful with over a thousand people using the service. Now though, Waymo is ready to expand the program and make it available to Lyft users, according to a blog post issued by the company on Tuesday.
The way it would work is this: Waymo would deploy 10 vehicles to begin with for use by Lyft riders over the coming months. Those riders using the Lyft app would have the option to select a self-driving Waymo car for eligible trips. Sounds pretty simple, right? Well, that's the idea.
By teaming up with Lyft, a well-established ride-hailing service, it might take away some of the fear first-time passengers might be feeling about getting in a car that drives itself. In exchange, Lyft gets a huge leg up by partnering with arguably the most established brand in autonomous vehicle development.
This program will stay in the Phoenix Metro area for now, but we wouldn't be shocked if it began to expand to other markets as regulations for self-driving cars on public roads are put in place.
