U.S. ride
services company Lyft Inc and Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) self-driving car unit
Waymo have launched a self-driving vehicle partnership, bringing together two
rivals to dominant ride-sharing service Uber Technologies Inc.[UBER.UL]
Lyft, the
No. 2 U.S. ride service by ride volume, in a statement said a deal to launch
self-driving pilots would accelerate its vision for transportation and Waymo,
which is beginning tests of a self-driving car service in Phoenix, said the
partnership would let its technology reach "more people, in more
places".
Neither
offered many details of the agreement, which was reported earlier by the New
York Times.
The auto
industry and technology companies are racing to develop self-driving
technology, which they expect in a number of years will transform
transportation, cutting costs of ride services and changing the way people buy
and use cars.
Uber is the
biggest U.S. ride service by volume and has been developing self-driving
technology, which it sees as a key to its future, as it expands its ride
service with human drivers.
Waymo has
some of the most advanced self-driving vehicle technology and has been looking
for partners, while Lyft offers ride services in about 300 U.S. cities.
Still, Lyft
said the deal is non-exclusive and will allow it to continue a self-driving
partnership with U.S. automaker General Motors Co (GM.N), which is a Lyft
investor.
GM plans to
deploy thousands of self-driving electric cars in test fleets partnering with
Lyft beginning 2018, sources told Reuters in February.
Lyft is
extremely early in its autonomous efforts. It has relied heavily on General
Motors for any testing and doesn't have a program that rivals Uber's Advanced
Technologies Group, a department in Uber dedicated to building self-driving
technology.
Waymo and
Uber are fighting in court over self-driving technology that Waymo says was
stolen by a former employee who founded another company that Uber later
acquired. Uber says it did not steal or use Waymo secrets.
Talks on the
Waymo and Lyft collaboration between began last summer, a person familiar with
the situation said.
Lyft raised
$600 million at a $7.5 billion valuation last month.
REUTERS*
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