Lyft announced on Wednesday that it will begin offering fully autonomous vehicles to its customers in 2023.
In partnership with Motional, the cars will be available in a select group of U.S. cities that have yet to be announced.
Motional has worked with Hyundai and Aptiv on a new generation of vehicles that will be able to operate fully driverless. A small group of self-driving vehicles has been active in a pilot program in Las Vegas for some time, but those vehicles have a safety driver in the car. The new vehicles won’t need one.
“As people consider trying new technologies, they’ll look to a brand like Lyft — one they know they can trust,” the company said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “Today, our experience providing more than 100,000 self-driving paid rides in the Lyft app has shown us the critical role that a trusted rideshare network plays in driving mainstream adoption of this new technology. 96% of passengers tell us they want to ride again once they’ve taken a self-driving ride and 98% of riders rated their self-driving ride 5 stars.”
“We’ve come up with a business model that’s profitable at scale for both companies,” Raj Kapoor, Lyft’s chief strategy officer and head of its self-driving efforts, said in a statement to Bloomberg.
“Maybe the goal posts will move to 2024 or 2025,” he added, “but this is the goal post we and our partners feel comfortable with.”
Earlier this month, Uber sold its self-driving unit to startup Aurora Innovation but bought a large stake in the company, assuring that the vehicles will operate in its network if and when they eventually launch.
