Ford Motor Co. and a self-driving vehicle company called Argo AI will soon join the ride-hailing service Lyft to bring self-driven cars. The service using Ford cars and Argo AI-developed system will kick start in Miami later in 2021 and start in Austin, Texas, in 2022. Initially, it will start with humans as backup drivers and go fully autonomous in the future.
The cars will be extracting data that will be useful in deploying a fleet of 1,000 robotaxis on the Lyft network in multiple markets during the five years, the company said in a statement. Until April, Lyft was working on its self-driving system, but the company ended up selling its unit.
Testing process underway
Under the Ford deal, Lyft will receive a 2.5 percent equity stake in Argo AI in exchange for ridership and safety data. “Each company brings the scale, knowledge, and capability in their area of expertise that is necessary to make autonomous ride-hailing a business reality,” Lyft CEO Logan Green said in the statement.
Ford and Volkswagen have a major stake in Argo, which is working on technology that will enable ford to start a self-driven ride-hailing service. Argo AI is currently testing autonomous vehicles with backup drivers in six US cities.
More autonomous taxi services in offing
Last year, Lyft’s rival Uber announced its plan to sell its autonomous vehicle development arm in a stock deal. Aurora will be buying the self-driving technology from Uber that was said to invest $400 million in Aurora and hold 26 percent in the company.
Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo is already offering a limited fully self-driven ride service. It also plans to start an autonomous ride-hailing service without backup drivers soon. It will be interesting to see which company starts its autonomous taxi service first.
Recently, Jeep also announced that its future cars will come with an ability to go much deeper in water than the Jeep Wrangler Xtreme Recon. During an electric vehicle showcase by Jeep’s parent company Stellantis, a Wrangler was depicted driving fully submerged, and we might soon see that happening.
