Waymo Rides Now Available on the Lyft App in Nashville

Starting today, riders in Music City can be matched with fully autonomous Waymo vehicles via the Lyft app, with availability set to grow in the weeks ahead

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lyft (Nasdaq: LYFT) and Waymo today announced that for the first time, riders can be matched with Waymo's fully autonomous vehicles on Lyft in Nashville. This is the first market where Waymo vehicles are available across both the Waymo and Lyft apps, empowering riders with more choice, reliability, and access to the Waymo experience.

"Nashville riders have been quick to embrace autonomous vehicles as part of how they get around the city. Adding Waymo vehicles to our marketplace is a natural fit," said Sid Patil, Head of Rideshare at Lyft. "Lyft and Waymo are joining hands to bring this amazing piece of technology to more riders in a seamless way."

“Our goal is to bring the safety, reliability, and magic of the Waymo Driver to as many people as possible,” said Nicole Gavel, Senior Director, Head of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships at Waymo. “Partnering with Lyft gives Nashvillians even more ways to experience fully autonomous rides—whether they’re booking directly on the Waymo app or getting matched on Lyft—as we scale our fleet across Music City.”

More options for Nashville riders

Riders requesting a Standard, Priority Pickup, Wait & Save, or Extra Comfort ride within central Nashville will begin to be matched with a Waymo vehicle at no additional cost through the Lyft app. To be eligible for matching, the route must start and end within the Waymo service area on Lyft covering Downtown/Broadway, North Nashville/Germantown, East Nashville, Midtown, and South Nashville. Availability will continue to grow gradually over the coming weeks, with Lyft and Waymo dispatching vehicles from a single fleet dynamically across both networks.

Riders can always decline an autonomous ride or opt out of them entirely. Human drivers will continue to serve riders throughout and around the service area, creating a hybrid network of human-driven and autonomously driven vehicles.

A fully integrated partnership inclusive of fleet management from Flexdrive

Getting a car all the way to the rider’s curb takes a team on the ground keeping every vehicle road-ready, which is where Lyft's subsidiary Flexdrive comes in. Flexdrive is providing fleet management for Waymo in Nashville and will open a purpose-built, 80,000-square-foot depot in October, bringing more than a decade of experience managing high-mileage rideshare vehicles to the world of autonomy. Being part of the Lyft family means Flexdrive brings a deep understanding of supply and demand trends, optimizing service times and ensuring Waymo and Lyft together make the most out of every autonomous vehicle on the road.

The Nashville facility is bringing more than 70 new full-time roles to Nashville just this year, including skilled technicians, fleet operations leads and coordinators, and service coordinators. Many of our new hires have been former drivers on Lyft’s network, bringing real-world experience in rider needs and service expectations.

Human-centered autonomous future

Lyft continues to see autonomous vehicles as a supporting layer to the existing community of drivers. Lyft has hosted multiple Driver Autonomous Forum sessions with local drivers across tenure to hear their perspectives about autonomous vehicles coming to Nashville. In August, Lyft hosted a driver appreciation event for local drivers featuring Head of Driver Yuko Yamazaki to directly answer questions about the partnership and share info on the tools that can help drivers improve their driving strategies.

“Nashville is a hub for travelers, event goers, and visitors, and our drivers here deliver a level of hospitality and service I'm incredibly proud of,” said Yuko Yamazaki, Head of Driver at Lyft. “Demand in this city keeps climbing, and I believe we're strongest in serving more riders when autonomous vehicles and human drivers grow side by side.”

Lyft will continue that transparency through events and direct outreach, and is committed to continuing to innovate driver-focused tools, such as Weekly Planner, Guidance Heatmap, and Turbo bonuses, for drivers to keep finding success on the road.

More info can be found at lyft.com/autonomous/waymo.

About Lyft

Whether it’s an everyday commute or a journey that changes everything, Lyft is driven by our purpose: to serve and connect. Founded in 2012, Lyft has grown into a global mobility platform offering a mix of rideshare, taxis, private hire vehicles, executive chauffeur services, car sharing, bikes, and scooters across six continents and thousands of cities. Millions of drivers have chosen to earn on billions of rides - helping to create a more connected world, with transportation options for everyone.

About Waymo

Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company on a mission to be the world’s most trusted driver. Started in 2009 as the Google Self-Driving Car Project, Waymo built the Waymo Driver—an advanced AI and hardware system —that can be applied to a range of vehicles and products. Today, Waymo's ride-hailing service has delivered tens of millions of fully autonomous trips across hundreds of millions of miles, proving more than 10x safer than human drivers in cities where it operates. Serving riders across more than 14 U.S. cities with international expansion underway, Waymo makes safe, all-electric, reliable mobility accessible to all. Download the Waymo app or visit Waymo.com to hail the future of mobility today.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this announcement are “forward-looking statements” about Lyft within the meaning of the securities laws, including statements about Lyft’s partnership with Waymo, the anticipated benefits, rewards, opportunities and experiences for drivers and riders, among others. Such statements, which are not of historical fact, involve estimates, assumptions, judgments and uncertainties. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those addressed in the forward-looking statements. Such factors are detailed in Lyft’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Lyft does not undertake an obligation to update its forward-looking statements to reflect future events, except as required by applicable law.