Lyft Tests Self-Driving Cars In Boston

Lyft has started its self-driving car pilot with the self-driving car company nuTonomy, matching its riders with autonomous vehicles in parts of Boston.

nuTonomy made the announcement that passengers in Boston’s Seaport district will experience self-driving rides on the Lyft network in nuTonomy vehicles. As the pilot progresses, select area passengers will be matched with nuTonomy self-driving vehicles when they request rides through the Lyft app.

“Our partnership with Lyft has two goals,” nuTonomy wrote in a statement on its website. “First, we want to let members of the public experience driverless vehicles firsthand, so they can better understand the impact this new technology will have on their lives. Second, based on feedback from pilot participants, nuTonomy’s engineers will adapt and improve our system, so that we can deliver an autonomous transportation experience that is extremely safe, efficient and comfortable.”

This union is a chance for Lyft to work with a company that is looking to specialize in the technology, while nuTonomy will have immediate access to an existing ridesharing network.

Lyft announced its partnership with nuTonomy earlier this year, as there is an enormous amount of money that continues to flow into both autonomous driving and ridesharing. After Lyft announced that CapitalG, Alphabet’s growth investment fund, was the lead investor in a $1 billion round of financing in October, TechCrunch reported last month that the ridesharing company was seeking to raise an additional $500 million.

In addition, Delphi purchased nuTonomy for $400 million in October.

“We’re excited to take another stride toward the future of urban mobility,” nuTonomy wrote. “Through partnerships with fantastic brands like Lyft, we’re assembling a robust autonomous vehicle ecosystem — one that will make safe and inexpensive transportation available to individuals in cities worldwide.”