Autonomous vehicle pioneers Waymo and Lyft plan to debut their robotaxi service in Nashville by the year 2026.
In a significant move towards autonomous transportation, Waymo and Lyft have announced a partnership to introduce driverless ride-hailing services in Nashville, Tennessee.
Under the agreement, Lyft will build a dedicated autonomous vehicle facility in the city to support the rollout. This facility will be responsible for vehicle cleaning, inspections, charging, and maintenance. Meanwhile, Lyft's Flexdrive subsidiary will oversee day-to-day fleet management.
Waymo's fleet of self-driving all-electric Jaguar I-Pace vehicles will begin testing on Nashville streets in the coming months. Once the trial phase concludes, residents and visitors in Nashville will be able to book rides through both the Waymo and Lyft apps.
This partnership marks another milestone in Waymo's U.S. expansion. The company, owned by Alphabet (the parent company of Google), currently operates in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, and Atlanta, with additional launches planned in Miami, Washington D.C., Dallas, and Denver.
The self-driving ride-hailing service in Nashville is expected to launch to the public in 2026. This dual-app system sets the Lyft deal apart from Waymo's earlier partnership with Uber in Atlanta and Austin, where rides can only be hailed through the Uber app.
In Nashville, customers will have more direct access to autonomous rides compared to the Uber partnership markets. This partnership will bring a fleet of self-driving vehicles to Tennessee's capital, furthering the city's commitment to sustainable and innovative transportation solutions.
Waymo's commercial Waymo One service was launched in 2020, and the company also expanded into Austin this year. With the addition of Nashville, the company is taking a significant step towards its international expansion plans, with Japan being one of their first deployments beyond the U.S.
As the autonomous vehicle industry continues to grow, partnerships like this one between Waymo and Lyft are shaping the future of urban mobility, offering a more accessible and sustainable transportation option for cities across the globe.
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