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Customer LoginsGM and Lyft to test self-driving taxis within a year
General Motors (GM) and ride-hailing service Lyft are aiming to test self-driving taxis on public roads by mid-2017, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
IHS Automotive Perspective
- Significance: GM is reportedly planning a self-driving taxi pilot programme with ride-hailing service Lyft and leveraging technology from Cruise Automation, to kick off by mid-2017.
- Implications: The pace of announcements on investments, pilot programmes, and research investment into self-driving cars and mobility is accelerating in 2016 as automakers look to ensure they are at the forefront and can adapt their historic business models, products, and services.
- Outlook: Recent announcements suggest self-driving technology is moving faster than predicted. More than eight automakers have made autonomous car announcements, most of them looking for vehicles in production by 2020, making it increasingly important that regulators move faster to get the core rules in place. IHS currently forecasts there will be 10.5 million self-driving and driverless cars in use globally by 2030.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that GM and Lyft will be working together to create a driverless car taxi pilot programme, to be in place within a year. According to the report, which quotes Lyft executives, the programme will test the Chevrolet Bolt with driverless technology on public roads. Details of the programme are still being worked out, but it will include customers in a still undisclosed city, according to the report. Customers will have the opportunity to opt in or out when using the Lyft mobile app. The report notes that regulatory concerns remain a top priority, but that this pilot will start with autonomous cars where drivers are in position ready to take over. Like Uber, Lyft expects the driver to eventually become obsolete. Taggert Matthiesen, Lyft's product director, is quoted in the report as saying, "We will want to vet the autonomous tech between Cruise, GM, and ourselves and slowly introduce this into markets… [That will] ensure that cities would have full understanding of what we are trying to do here."
Lyft has a prototype smartphone app that gives customers the option of being picked up by an autonomous car and of contacting a GM OnStar assistant for questions or aid in case of problems, according to the report. Involving OnStar's strong, robust, and well-developed network could give customers the security of knowing they can reach a person. Handling for this type of call should be relatively simple to incorporate.
The companies are still working out how to design a programme for Lyft drivers to have the Bolt available, said Matthiesen. "Really the question is: 'Is it Lyft that owns the vehicles or is it GM that owns the vehicles?'," he reportedly said. This is among the more important long-term questions to be resolved, as maintaining a fleet is a significant cost, and one that both Lyft and Uber models have developed to avoid.
At time of writing, however, GM has not confirmed the Wall Street Journal report. CNet.com's Road Show quotes a GM statement that it has "nothing specific to announce in relation to potential rollout of vehicles and technologies at this time, [but it] continues to make progress on our previously announced plans related to an integrated on-demand autonomous network with Lyft".
Outlook and implications
Reporting of the potential GM-Lyft programme follow news earlier this week from FCA and Google on a limited partnership between them. Along with other announcements over recent months, this suggests self-driving technology is moving faster than many predicted. More than eight automakers have made autonomous car announcements, with most of them looking for vehicles in production by 2020. To keep up, regulators need to move faster to get core rules in place, making the recent announcement of an industry consortium to lobby for regulations even more important. IHS currently forecasts 10.5 million self-driving and driverless cars will be in use globally by 2030 - a prediction we may revise upward.
The GM-Lyft programme is atypically aggressive for GM, but is a logical extension of GM's investments over past months into Lyft and Cruise Automation, as well as into Maven. It also follows the March announcement of GM's Lyft rental programme, which starts with the Chevrolet Equinox but envisions ultimately expanding in cities and offering the standard, driven Bolt.
IHS Automotive analyst Egil Juliussen sees the Lyft's prototype app as an interesting and smart development to bridge the gap between today and tomorrow. GM's purchase of Cruise Automation gives it access to bolt-on self-driving car functionality, which can be leveraged by adding it to the Bolt. Juliussen notes that this is a "pretty good strategy to get to the testing stage rapidly".
Leveraging OnStar is yet another massive payoff for GM's investment into the company. OnStar will continue to be important as GM transitions to incorporating some level of mobility services into its business model.
Assuming the GM-Lyft pilot programme succeeds and GM breaks into this model quickly - and given other automakers' heavy investment into autonomous technology and ride-share mobility programmes - Julissen questions if it will continue to make sense for Uber to invest large sums into creating its own driverless cars. Perhaps Uber's model tracks forward better if it buys the technology from others and focuses on battling for market share in China, India, and other regions.
About this article
The above article is from IHS Automotive Same-Day Analysis of automotive news, events and trends, and is a deliverable of the World Markets Automotive Service. The service averages thirty stories per day and also provides competitor and country intelligence. Get a free trial.