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Ride - hail giant star Lyft plans to bring in full autonomous robotaxis , power by Mobileye , to its app “ as presently as 2026 ” in Dallas , with more markets to follow , TechCrunch has exclusively pick up .
The news comes a day before Lyft reports its quaternary - quarter fiscal results , coinciding with Waymo ’s preparations to set in motion a commercial-grade robotaxi religious service withUber in Austinand , later , Atlanta . Tesla has also shared plans to start an autonomous drive - hail operation inAustin in June .
Marubeni , a Nipponese conglomerate with experience managing fleets , will own and finance the Mobileye - equipped vehicles that will show up on Lyft ’s ride - hailing app . While Lyft has not yet break which carmaker it is partnering with for the launch , Mobileye ’s innovative gadget driver - assistance applied science isalready integratedinto vehicle from Audi , Volkswagen , Nissan , Ford , General Motors , and more .
Lyft also did n’t share how many vehicle it would set in motion in Dallas to start , but Jeremy Bird , Lyft ’s executive frailty president of machine driver experience , severalise TechCrunch that the plan is to descale to thousands of vehicles across multiple cities after the Texas debut .
The Marubeni partnership is a non sequitur for Lyft : The Japanese troupe possess subsidiary across almost every industry , from intellectual nourishment and real estate to Agriculture Department and energy , but does n’t have a large presence in drive - hail or autonomous vehicles .
That said , over the past few old age , Marubeni has start to dabble . In 2021 , thecompany partnered with Mobileyeand transit planning app Moovit to launch an on - requirement mobility service in Japan . TechCrunch has reached out to learn if that coaction is still alive .
Mobileye served as the intermediary between Lyft and Marubeni , said Bird . For Lyft ’s plus - twinkle business concern model , find a partner to commit to owning the fleet is crucial .
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“ Mobileye ’s get the technology and the family relationship with the OEMs , and we have the weapons platform , so it ’s the possession of the fleet that ’s the large missing opus , ” Bird told TechCrunch . “ And when you have somebody that has experience in [ fleet direction ] and the resources and the willingness to be a first - public mover , that changes the biz for us . ”
Marubeni will leverage Lyft ’s Flexdrive religious service to help manage its fleet and keep asset utilization high . Flexdrive relate drivers who do n’t own vehicles with railway car renters . Bird tell Lyft ’s experience managing fleet — which include charging , cleaning , and maintaining the fomite , as well as actual estate for operations — will go a recollective way toward supporting future independent ride .
Bird note that Lyft is in talks with every major autonomous car maker to bring them on to the platform . The companionship in all probability wants to kick back those conversations into gear as its archrival Uber snatches up partnerships with other Ab company . Aside from Waymo , Uber has announced deals withWayve , Avride , Serve Robotics , Nuro , Aurora Innovation , Waabi , and others .
Outside of its Mobileye mickle , Lyft has only declare plan to launchAVs with May Mobility in Atlantathis year .
Lyft ’s slower roll toward offering autonomous ride - hailing is n’t for lack of trying , though . The company has had its share of bad luck in the AV bowl .
The caller antecedently partnered with startups Motional and Argo AI to launch robotaxi service in Las Vegas — initially with a human guard driver behind the wheel — but the plan was to go in full driverless . ThenMotional pause that partnershipin May afterslashing its work force , andArgo AI shut out down in 2022 . Lyft had a stake in Argo and took a$135.7 million hitwhen the company folded .
Before that , Lyft had examine to evolve self-governing vehicle technology in - house , as did Uber . But both ended up sell their Ab units — Uber to Aurorain December 2020 , andLyft to Toyota ’s Woven Planetin April 2021 .
Bird acknowledge that Uber ’s spree of Ab partnerships “ does make importunity ” for Lyft , but he said it also signals that the deployment of robotaxis wo n’t be contract with just one company .
He said Lyft ’s destination now is to build solid partnerships both with companies developing Ab technical school and with those that want to own fleet of autonomous vehicles , which aligns with its asset - luminance business model .
“ The relief of the value chain is where we really want to trifle a role , and that ’s in fleet management , need genesis , and market , ” Bird said .
Correction : A former version of this article listed Jeremy Bird ’s late statute title at Lyft .
