GM and Lyft Are Planning To Test Self-Driving Taxis

Only a few months after General Motors and Lyft formed an alliance, the two are planning to test a fleet of self-driving Chevrolet Bolt electric taxis on public roads.

Specific details about the testing are still be working out, but a Lyft executive said it will include customers in an undisclosed city. Customers will be able to opt in or out of the program when hailing a Lyft cab from the company's application. Riders will be able to contact an advisor from OnStar to ask questions or provide help if a problem arises.

The self-driving tech will come from Cruise Automation Inc., a developer of autonomous driving tech that was acquired back in March.

“We will want to vet the autonomous tech between Cruise, GM and ourselves and slowly introduce this into markets,” said Taggart Matthiesen, Lyft’s product director. That will “ensure that cities would have full understanding of what we are trying to do here.”

There are still a number of regulation hurdles Lyft has to work out. In an effort to remove some of the hurdles, Lyft will still have drivers in the vehicles to intervene. But the end goal is to remove the driver. The testing is expected to begin within a year.

Source: The Wall Street Journal (Subscription Required)