At Lyft, self-driving technology is vital to our vision of the future — a future in which cities are built around people, and not cars. This new mode of transportation will empower people to get where they need to go more safely, quickly and affordably than ever before, without having to own a car.
But, opportunities to advance self-driving technology are too big — and too important — an endeavor for any one team to solve alone. That’s why we’ve been hard at work with partners like Aptiv learning how to deliver the benefits of self-driving rides today. From hotels along the famous Las Vegas Strip to local hot spots like the Arts District, the Lyft app makes it easy for people in Las Vegas to get around with a self-driving ride.
As Lyft and Aptiv surpass 100,000 paid self-driving rides together, we’re taking a moment to share a few learnings along the way.
Our partnership is a blueprint for how to successfully bring self-driving vehicles into today’s transportation ecosystem. When trying a new technology for the first time, people want to turn to a brand they know and trust. Our partnership with Aptiv allows Lyft to take care of our riders and help them experience a new type of ride through the Lyft app, while Aptiv stays focused on their area of expertise -- self-driving vehicle technology.
Self-driving vehicles are ready for broader adoption. Lyft and Aptiv are proving that self-driving vehicles can play a major role in passenger transportation. We hear it loud and clear from our riders -- they are eager for self-driving vehicles to meet more and more of their transportation needs. And strong partnerships with local governments and transit agencies such as Clark County, the City of Las Vegas and the Regional Transportation Commission have shown that we can bring this technology to Lyft passengers by working together.
After experiencing self-driving technology, many Lyft riders become advocates. When riders experience a self-driving car safely and confidently navigate to their destination, there’s an “aha” moment about how self-driving vehicles really are the future. After their first ride, many riders repeatedly select self-driving mode to bring their friends and family along for the journey.
Ultimately, three fundamentals still matter: safety, simplicity, and efficiency. Lyft riders today who enjoy using one app to find the right ride for any occasion can imagine the benefits of self-driving technology at scale. Because for these riders, it’s yet another way to safely and easily get where they’re going. Though once novelty of this new ride type wears off, people still expect the basics: An intuitive user experience, an efficient pick up and drop off, and peace of mind that they are safe. Because that’s what they expect from a ride with Lyft.
The journey ahead
In the early days of Lyft, riders taught us important things like how hospitality plays a role in their decision to ride again or that there’s a “sweet spot” of the amount of time people want to wait for their ride. In the same way, this first generation of self-driving riders are teaching us about how they view this technology – and what we can do to continue to improve their experiences. Transportation serves all of us, and we are all invested in the next step of its evolution. We’re all on this journey together, and we can’t wait to hear what riders think about the next 100,000 rides.