Ford and Lyft Announce Partnership to Bring Self-Driving Cars to the Masses

Ford Gets a Lyft

This week, Ford and Lyft announced a new partnership in which both companies will work together to bring self-driving cars to the ride-hailing service and its users.

In order to achieve this goal, teams from both companies will begin working together to develop software that will allow Ford's vehicles to operate with the Lyft mobile app.

Ford's self-driving vehicles, as well as its traditional vehicles, will be added to Lyft's network, but users won't be able to use the former just yet. Over at Medium, Sherif Marakby, Ford's Vice President of Autonomous Vehicles and Electrification, explained that autonomous vehicles won't be available "until we are certain our technology delivers a positive, reassuring experience where we can gain meaningful feedback."

Marakby did not provide a timeframe for when the self-driving cars would be accessible, but the end goal is for autonomous cars and human drivers to operate side-by-side.

Ford isn't the only automaker Lyft is working with, as the company has also partnered with GM to build a separate fleet of self-driving vehicles; which is also different from Lyft's own self-driving initiative that's already arrived in San Francisco.

"We strongly believe that leaders across industries should work collaboratively to introduce self-driving technology in a way that positively impacts our cities," said Lyft in a blog post. "Our two companies share a core belief that the future of transportation will meaningfully reshape how cities are designed, and improve the lives of people who live there."