Lyft Inc. is set to introduce driverless rides in Dallas in collaboration with Mobileye Global Inc., an Intel Corp. spinoff, starting as early as 2026. This initiative builds on a partnership originally announced last November. Lyft customers in Dallas will have the opportunity to book autonomous vehicles equipped with Mobileye’s technology, owned by Marubeni Corp., a Tokyo-based auto and fleet financing company. CEO David Risher shared this information in a post on social media platform X, noting that Lyft plans to expand its fleet to additional cities, with advanced planning underway to finalize its autonomous vehicle platform.
The San Francisco-based rideshare company is making strides to offer autonomous rides to its users. In addition to the upcoming collaboration with Mobileye, Lyft announced last November plans to deploy self-driving Toyota Sienna minivans in partnership with May Mobility, a startup backed by Toyota Motor Corp., beginning in 2025. Meanwhile, competitor Uber Technologies Inc. has already been providing driverless rides in Phoenix through its partnership with Waymo LLC since October 2023, with plans to expand to Austin in March and Atlanta this summer.
Following the announcement, Lyft’s shares surged by as much as 7.2% when the New York markets opened on Monday, while Mobileye’s stock climbed by up to 18%, buoyed by an upgrade from BofA Securities Inc. In his post, Risher highlighted that Marubeni manages over 900,000 vehicles across various subsidiaries and joint ventures and has experienced year-over-year growth in its auto financing operations. He also mentioned that Marubeni will leverage expertise from Lyft’s car rental and fleet division, Flexdrive Services LLC, to optimize the use of these vehicles.
