Lyft and Waymo have signed a deal, according to TheNew York Times, that aims to bring self-driving technology to a more expansive market. While details about their agreement remain relatively bleak, their alliance is further indication that building partnerships is the best way to combat and edge out their common foe: Uber.
Lyft continues to lag behind Uber in the ride-hailing market while Waymo is competing against the same company in the self-driving market. The confirmation of their deal comes a few days after court proceedings between Waymo and Uber started to heat up. The lawsuit filed by Waymo alleges that Uber, which is looking to make a splash in the autonomous vehicle industry, acquired the self-driving truck start-up, Otto, run by one of their former employees, Anthony Levandowski, in an effort to steal away Waymo's self-driving trade secrets. Uber was denied their attempt to move the case to private arbitration. Meanwhile, Waymo sought an injunction that would force Uber to halt their self-driving efforts.
When news of their agreement surfaced, both sides raved about one another. Lyft complemented Waymo's self-driving technology, saying, “Waymo holds today’s best self-driving technology, and collaborating with them will accelerate our shared vision of improving lives with the world’s best transportation."
Meanwhile, Waymo released a statement indicating that their technology coupled with Lyft will help expand their reach. “Lyft’s vision and commitment to improving the way cities move will help Waymo’s self-driving technology reach more people, in more places,” the statement read.
Ultimately, this move is to get over on Uber. Now time will tell if their partnership will do the trick.
