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What's going on?
In a clear threat to Ubers ambitions, Lyft, the ride-sharing app that is Ubers main rival in the US, said on Tuesday that it will launch self-driving taxis later this year!
What does this mean?
Lyft plans to start offering rides with self-driving cars through a pilot program in Boston (tweet this) and in partnership with nuTonomy, a Boston-based company that attracted attention in 2016 when it became the first company to operate a self-driving taxi beating Uber to the punch. This is Lyfts third partnership related to self-driving cars it also has a partnership with General Motors and Waymo, Alphabets autonomous car division.
Why should I care?
For markets: The marriage of autonomous driving and ride-sharing networks could be key for Lyft.
Lyfts partnership with nuTonomy doesnt mean that Lyft is learning how to build self-driving cars itself. Instead, Lyft seemingly wants to take advantage of its existing ride-sharing network to partner with companies that are developing their own autonomous vehicles. Conceivably, Lyft could partner with more than one operator, allowing it to act as the center of a diverse network of self-driving car operators.
The bigger picture: Uber is developing a very different strategy.
Unlike Lyft, Uber has been trying to develop its own in-house autonomous driving technology, but its had a few hiccups for one, its embroiled in a serious lawsuit with Waymo concerning the theft of trade secrets. Uber does have a partnership with Daimler that looks to use its network, but time will tell if its efforts to actually develop the self-driving technology are worthwhile or merely expensive.
Originally posted as part of the Finimize daily email.
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