Lyft & Waymo Partnership In Phoenix Means Driverless Rides Soon

PHOENIX, AZ — Google's self-driving venture Waymo is stepping up their game in Phoenix, partnering with Lyft to capture more of the ride-hailing market share.

The alliance between Lyft and Google was announced Tuesday with news about how it will work. By the end of September, anyone with the Lyft app in the Phoenix metro area can tap up one of the 10 self-driving Waymo cars.

Human drivers are still behind the wheel, Waymo executives were quick to point out. By merging with Lyft, there's hope people will get more comfortable with the technology. Before the partnership, Waymo vehicles have had limited exposure to the public.

It remains unclear when these companies will achieve "level 4 automation" — the point where a human can be truly hands off. While executives have avoided disclosing hard dates, a demonstration without a human was held at a Waymo property in California.

Testing of the self-driving Waymos in Phoenix began in November 2017. In February 2018, Waymo was one of 13 to receive a ride-sharing permit from the state.

Gov. Ducey banned the fleets when a woman was struck and killed by a self-driving Uber car last March. The company was ultimately found not criminally responsible. The incident put a suspension on any self-driving operations for awhile, but Gov. Doug Ducey eventually allowed the startups to proceed.

Meanwhile, Uber and Waymo have been involved in a legal battle over alleged high-tech theft. Waymo accused Uber of orchestrating a scheme to steal some of its autonomous driving technology. That came after Uber's former CEO Travis Kalanick began to suspect Waymo was planning to use its self-driving cars in a rival ride-hailing service, Arizona Public Media reports.