Partners Lyft and Ford are laying the groundwork for his or her driverless ride-hailing plans. Today, the businesses announced that Ford’s Argo AI-powered automobiles shall be obtainable on Lyft’s community later this yr in Miami, adopted by Austin in 2022. The transfer will enable passengers to decide on a Ford self-driving automobile with a security driver in these areas once they ebook their experience from the app. By 2026, Ford plans so as to add 1,000 of its driverless automobiles to Lyft’s fleet in a number of markets, a pact that the businesses are within the means of finalizing.
The deployment ought to present a shot within the arm for Lyft’s autonomous ride-hailing ambitions. The firm plans to get absolutely driverless fleets serving clients in a number of US cities in 2023. But, it suffered a setback final yr when its self-driving associate Magna selected to shift to assisted driving merchandise as an alternative. The choice mirrored wider issues inside the business over the revenue-bleeding nature of autonomous driving. In December, Uber determined to promote its self-driving unit to startup Aurora as a belt-tightening maneuver.
Fortunately for Lyft, it is had shut ties with Ford — which is aggressively pursuing its personal self-driving targets —since 2017. The partnership between the 2 corporations was cast on the again of Ford’s $1 billion funding in autonomous automobile startup Argo AI. Since then, the automaker has been testing its driverless automobile service in Miami, Austin and Washington, D.C.
“Argo and Ford are currently piloting, mapping and preparing for commercial operations of autonomous vehicles in more cities than any other [autonomous vehicle] collaboration, and this new agreement is a crucial step toward full commercial operations – the addition of Lyft’s world-class transportation network,” mentioned Scott Griffith, CEO, Ford Autonomous Vehicles & Mobility Businesses.
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