Why Are Robotaxis Driving Lyft’s $1.6 Billion Rally?
Autonomous vehicles need to grow the ride-sharing market, otherwise they will just take share from the incumbents.
Who’s driving?
Photographer: Charly Triballeau/ AFP via Getty Images
Lyft Inc. ended last week worth $1.6 billion, or 21%, more than at the start. The reason was a new partnership with Waymo LLC, Alphabet Inc.’s robotaxi unit. But the rally raises a fundamental question amid the developing mash-up of ride-hailing and autonomous vehicles: Who’s driving?
Lyft is teaming up with Waymo to launch a robotaxi service in Nashville next year. Lyft will provide fleet management services to Waymo’s autonomous vehicles there and riders will at some point be able to order them via Lyft’s app (Waymo’s own app will handle hailing at first). Nashville is a relatively small market 1 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. estimates the entire North American robotaxi rideshare market might grow to $7 billion in 2030. Clearly, there’s more to Lyft’s extra billion-plus of market cap than just some robotaxi-related revenue in Nashville.