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Lyft reached a new milestone this week when Waymo robotaxis landed on its app in Nashville. Under the partnership, Lyft handles fleet services, such as vehicle readiness and maintenance, as well as infrastructure and depot operations through its wholly owned subsidiary Flexdrive.
In Nashville, customers can hail a Waymo robotaxi directly from the Waymo app, or try their luck on the Lyft app, which will match riders with a Waymo depending on availability.
Lyft has more than dabbled in autonomous vehicle technology over the years, including through partnerships with Aptiv (now Motional) in Las Vegas, May Mobility in Atlanta, Baidu in London, and Waymo in Phoenix. But this week is notable because it marks Lyft’s first true entry into commercial robotaxi services using driverless vehicles without a human operator behind the wheel.
Lest you forget, the company spent four years and millions of dollars developing its own AV tech under its Level 5 business division. Lyft sold its autonomous vehicle unit to Toyota’s Woven Planet Holdings subsidiary for $550 million in 2021 — one of many acquisitions during a period of widespread consolidation across the nascent industry.
Lyft then took a break from AVs as it focused on its core ride-hailing business. But it didn’t dismiss the idea altogether.
I spoke to Jeremy Bird, Lyft’s executive vice president of growth, about the milestone and thought I would share a few insights. In his role, Bird manages Lyft’s international, luxury, and autonomous vehicle plans — and sometimes all three may converge.
When I asked Bird when we’ll see more robotaxis on the Lyft app — and where — he didn’t get too specific. But he did say the company went into 2026 focused on its partnership with Waymo in Nashville and Baidu in London (where commercial service has not yet launched).
“I think next year what you’ll see is more diversification of that,” he said, adding that ideally this would include expanding Lyft’s partnership with both partners. “I think next year will be a big year for us.”
And it seems international markets are a big part of that AV expansion plan. Bird called London a “fascinating market,” and throughout our conversation he repeatedly talked about Lyft as a global company, a notable shift from just a few years ago when it was focused on the U.S. market.
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