Lyft and Waymo jointly test autonomous cars

Alphabet’s autonomous car development spin-off Waymo – which took over the Google self-driving project- and GM-backed ridesharing platform Lyft are bundling their forces to accelerate the roll out of autonomous vehicle testing on public roads, starting in Phoenix, Arizona.

Waymo is considered the global leader in self-driving software. Through its partnership with Lyft – which is non-exclusive – it gains access to millions of people already familiar with the latter’s ride-hailing platform. The benefit for Lyft is that it can remain competitive by going autonomous, as self-driving rides are likely to be less expensive than trips with human drivers.

Picture copyright: Waymo, 2017