Lyft to begin building its own self-driving technology

SAN FRANCISCO — Ride-hailing company Lyft announced it will go beyond partnering with other companies on autonomous driving, and in a significant shift, will start building some of the technology itself, The Verge reports.

Previously, the ride-hail company teamed up with companies like General Motors, Waymo, NuTonomy, and Jaguar Land Rover, with the plan being that the automakers would provide the cars, the tech firms would build the sensors and mapping equipment, and Lyft would provide the outlet through which these self-driving cars would be deployed and earn money.

Now, Lyft is saying it wants a build its own technology stack so it can operate its own self-driving cars. To accomplish this, it is opening a new 50,000-square-foot engineering facility in Palo Alto, Calif., that it’s calling the “Level 5” center in reference to the most advanced level of autonomous driving. The company’s goal is to have hundreds of engineers working out of the facility by the end of 2018. For the full story, click here.

The impact that autonomous and connected vehicle technology will have on bus transportation will be discussed at BusCon 2017 in Indianapolis, Sept. 11 to 13.