1. Lyft partners with Waymo to expand in Nashville by 2026. 2. Flexdrive will manage Waymo's autonomous vehicle fleet in Nashville. 3. Waymo's service to operate alongside Lyft's existing driver community. 4. Partnership aims to maximize fleet utilization for improved customer experience. 5. Lyft will build a specialized facility for autonomous vehicle management.
This partnership enhances Lyft's position in the growing autonomous vehicle market, similar to collaborations seen with Uber and Tesla that boosted their market positions.
The partnership with Waymo is significant for Lyft's future strategies in AV technology, likely impacting investor confidence and stock performance.
The long-term potential lies in increased market share and enhanced service offerings as autonomy becomes mainstream, akin to how partnerships with tech companies reshaped traditional markets.
Waymo and Lyft to expand to Nashville next year, with Lyft's Flexdrive managing Waymo's fully autonomous vehicles.
Lyft ("Lyft") (NASDAQ:LYFT), a global mobility platform, and Waymo, the world's leading autonomous driving technology company, today announced a new partnership to bring Waymo's fully autonomous ride-hailing service to Nashville in 2026.
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Lyft and Waymo Launch Partnership to Expand Autonomous Mobility to Nashville
This new collaboration will leverage Lyft's proprietary integrated fleet management services through its Flexdrive subsidiary, which will provide end-to-end fleet management, including vehicle maintenance, infrastructure, and depot operations for the Nashville fleet. Riders will have the opportunity to hail Waymo's fully autonomous vehicles first on the Waymo app, with plans to also dispatch its fleet on Lyft's network for matched rides later in 2026.
"This partnership brings together best-in-class autonomous vehicles with best-in-class customer experience," said Lyft CEO David Risher. "Waymo has proven that its autonomous technology works at scale. When combined with Lyft's customer-obsession and world-class fleet management capabilities, it's two great tastes that go great together."
"We're delighted to partner with Lyft and launch in Nashville next year, as we continue to scale our Waymo ride-hailing service to more people in more places," said Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana. "Lyft's extensive fleet management capabilities through Flexdrive make them an ideal partner for expanding to Nashville. We can't wait to introduce Music City's residents and visitors to the convenient, consistent, safe, and magical Waymo experience."
Waymo and Lyft will implement a new dynamic marketplace integration that enables Waymo to make its vehicles available for matching with rides on the Lyft network, and requested rides on the Waymo network. This approach maximizes fleet utilization while providing access to Waymo's AVs for riders on both platforms. Waymo's AVs in Nashville will serve riders alongside Lyft's broader driver community, helping usher in Lyft's vision of a human-centered, hybrid future.
As part of this partnership, Lyft will construct a purpose-built AV fleet management facility with charging and vehicle service capabilities. Waymo's AVs will be supported by Flexdrive's industry-leading fleet management that maximizes uptime, ensures optimal performance, and reduces operational costs — delivering the consistent, high-quality experience riders on both platforms expect.
About Lyft
Whether it's an everyday commute or a journey that changes everything, Lyft is driven by our purpose: to serve and connect. Founded in 2012, Lyft has grown into a global mobility platform offering a mix of rideshare, taxis, private hire vehicles, car sharing, bikes, and scooters across 4 continents and nearly 1,000 cities. Millions of drivers have chosen to earn on billions of rides - helping to create a more connected world, with transportation options for everyone.
About Waymo
Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company with the mission to be the world's most trusted driver. Since our start as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, Waymo has focused on building the Waymo Driver—The World's Most Experienced Driver™—to improve access to mobility while saving thousands of lives now lost to traffic crashes. Waymo's fully autonomous ride-hailing service provides hundreds of thousands of rides every week in San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Austin, and Atlanta, and the data shows Waymo's technology is involved in five times fewer injury-causing collisions in these cities compared to human drivers. The Waymo Driver has autonomously driven over 100 million miles on public roads and tens of billions in simulation across 15+ U.S. states.
About Flexdrive
Flexdrive, Lyft's fleet management subsidiary, leverages proprietary software built specifically for high-mileage rideshare fleet operations, with real-time vehicle tracking, proactive maintenance alerts, geofencing technology for rapid service response, and intelligent charge management to minimize downtime. With over eight years managing 15,000 vehicles across dozens of North American locations, Flexdrive brings unique vertically integrated expertise enabled by deep technical investment in rideshare-focused fleet management software.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this announcement are "forward-looking statements" about Lyft within the meaning of the securities laws, including statements about Lyft's autonomous vehicle strategy, fleet management services and partnership with Waymo and related plans for Nashville and other markets, expectations, technologies and benefits for riders. Such statements, which are not of historical fact, involve estimates, assumptions, judgments and uncertainties. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those addressed in the forward-looking statements. Such factors are detailed in Lyft's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Lyft does not undertake an obligation to update its forward-looking statements to reflect future events, except as required by applicable law.
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Media Contacts:
Lyft
Lyft Press
press@lyft.com
Waymo
Waymo Press
press@waymo.com