Lyft Launches Waymo Robotaxis in Nashville App, Expands AV Partnerships

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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.

So, where is Lyft headed next? When it comes to international markets, Lyft seems to be prioritizing locations where it can operate a hybrid network — meaning AVs and human-driven vehicles — from the get-go.

“We are a global company becoming more global, which is important for us,” he said. “And AVs will be the way we think about the future. Like any market we go into, is there an AV component to that? Is it a market where AVs are already open regulatorily, or that would put that market up higher on our list of the places we want to go?”

A little bird

A little bird noticed a couple of interesting hires over at Ford that sure look like the company is building up its defense tech muscles. Ford recently hired ex-Raytheon employee Tomaz Seignemartin as VP of continuous improvement and former General Dynamics staffer Shirish Srinivasan, who is now chief of staff to Ford’s chief strategy officer. Ford also hired Nathan Rigoni, who was Lockheed Martin’s generative AI team lead, as senior software engineer.

Now, of course, a handful of defense tech hires at a company that employs thousands is hardly a trend. But it does illustrate how having a background in defense tech has become more valuable.

Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at [email protected] or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O’Kane at [email protected].

Deals!

The Boring Company, the startup founded by Elon Musk to “solve traffic” by creating a network of underground tunnels, raised $3 billion in a round led by the United Arab Emirates. The Boring Company is now valued at $23 billion, the company shared in its announcement. There is a reason for UAE’s support. The Boring Company, which already worked with the UAE on the Dubai Loop, said it will dig another 150 kilometers of tunnels in the Middle Eastern country.

Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Human Capital, Vy Capital, and Valor Equity Partners also participated.

In the U.S., the Boring Company’s most visible work is in Las Vegas, where it has developed tunnels connecting hotel casinos such as Resorts World, Encore, and the Sahara, the convention center, and limited trips to the airport. Tesla vehicles, driven by a human, shuttle riders to and from these locations.

Other deals that got my attention this week …

ARC Ride, the Kenya-based electric mobility startup, raised $33.3 million in a round led by Novastar Ventures and Norrsken22. Other backers included IFC, British International Investment, Proparco, Japanese supplier Musashi Seimitsu, and African impact investor Talanton.

Beep, a startup known for operating autonomous shuttles at campuses and airports, raised $20 million in a Series B round led by Mobileye, one of its existing tech partners. The Orlando, Florida-based company that was founded in 2019 said it has raised $130 million to date.

Fryte Mobility, a Munich, Germany-based software startup focused on charging logistics for electric trucks, raised €3.5 million ($4 million) in seed funding co-led by 4impact capital and Rethink Ventures. Existing backers Revent, F-LOG, accilium ventures, and unnamed angel investors also participated.

Porsche completed the sale of its stakes in Bugatti Rimac and Rimac Group to HOF Capital. Porsche received about 1 billion euros in the sale, and about 250 million euros of those proceeds will be used to further fund its pension obligations.

Poseidon Aerospace raised $60 million ahead of the first test flight of its uncrewed cargo plane, Egret, expected by the end of this year. The Series A round was led by early-stage VC firm TQ Ventures and saw new investments from Hanwha Asset Management, G Squared, and JAWS. Existing backers Starship Ventures, Draper Associates, and Drover Ventures also invested.

Stoke Space may not be a traditional transportation player, but the reusable rocket company’s $1 billion raise, and some of its backers, got my attention. The round was led by Point72 Ventures (hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen’s tech investment vehicle) and Spark Capital, and included investment from General Innovation, Glade Brook Capital, US Innovative Technology, Washington Harbour Partners, Woven Capital, and Y Combinator, among others.

Tern, the Austin, Texas-based startup developing an alternative to GPS, landed an $11.26 million contract from the U.S. Army. The startup said U.S. Army vehicles will use its “Google Maps for the battlefield” tech.

Uber invested $10 million in Indian fleet management startup Carrum Mobility in a Series B round. The new investment values Carrum at ₹16 billion (about $168 million) post-money.

Notable reads and other tidbits

Autonomy, the California electric vehicle subscription service created by TrueCar founder Scott Painter, is pivoting. The company, which almost went out of business, is adding internal combustion engine vehicles to its fleet.

Beta Technologies, Joby Aviation, and Wisk, three companies developing electric aircraft, began test flight demonstrations in Texas as part of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Advanced Air Mobility and Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) Integration Pilot Program (eIPP). The weeklong campaign will allow these companies to test real-world routes, including to the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.

Travis Kalanick’s startup Atoms is preparing for a hiring spree in a bid to go after the robotaxi business, the Financial Times reported.

TechCrunch reporter Jagmeet Singh digs into Uber rival inDrive and its push to scale beyond ride-hailing.

One more thing …

U.S.-based autonomous vehicle developers may get the bulk of the attention these days, but there is a lot of notable activity occurring outside of the country. This week alone we saw China AV developer Pony.ai and Croatia-based Verne (another Mate Rimac company) begin fully driverless test rides with passengers on public roads in Zagreb, while Spain issued the first national AV permits to WeRide and partners Uber and Avomo.