Uber has been ahead of the game when it comes to self-driving cars, but the recent deal made between Lyft and Waymo mixes things up.
What is Waymo?
Developed in Google’s labs in 2009, Waymo is a self-driving technology company with a mission to make it safe and easy for people and things to move around. Waymo is pretty successful; it achieved the world’s first fully self-driving trip on public roads, in a car without a steering wheel or pedals. Its cars also have self-driven more than 3 million miles on public roads across four cities in the United States. Clearly, it’s a pretty cool company. But what does this deal mean for the ridesharing business?
Race to the top
Although the exact details have not been released, the deal between Lyft and Waymo could really shake things up; self-driving technology eliminates the need for a driver and saves the company a lot of money. It’s also a race to the finish, and Lyft has some catching up to do as Uber has been testing self-driving technology since 2014.
Both Lyft and Uber have always been going head-to-head as they share a lot of the same features and technology, such as the ability to model transportation demand, or to know how much someone will pay to go what distance. But if Waymo and Lyft really take things to the next level, they could become a serious opponent for Uber. The company that can develop the technology and prove it to be safe is the company that will end up dominating the ridesharing business.
While the deal may seem motivated purely by profit, there’s another motive behind the agreement.
Helping each other
Waymo might possess the “best technology” right now, but it doesn’t have the knowledge on transportation networking to really make the jump between its automated cars and mass commercialization. Essentially, Lyft and Waymo are partnering up to help each other take the next step in their businesses. The deal is expected to involve a pilot program in which consumers ride in vehicles equipped with Waymo’s self-driving technology.
The deal also follows the lawsuit Waymo filed against Uber for an alleged trade-secret theft. The tension began when Waymo accused Uber’s star engineer of stealing 14,000 “highly confidential” files on self-driving car technology in December of 2015.
Takeaway
The somewhat mysterious deal between Waymo and Lyft is innovative but also motivated by money and competition, and Lyft has a lot of catching up to do. Although Waymo has the best self-driving technology at the moment, it will be interesting to see whether the two can successfully team up and beat Uber in the race to launch the age of ridesharing with self-driving cars.
Have something to add to this story? Comment below or join the discussion on Facebook.
Header Image: Getty Images