Lyft and Waymo have begun to hit the ground running towards the first successful self-driving car as the companies have officially sealed the deal. This comes after Samsung and Hyundai were able to secure the clearance in South Korea to begin its autonomous vehicle trial in the country.
Lyft, Waymo ink deal
Waymo, a sister company of Google, has officially inked a deal with ride-hailing start-up Lyft to bring the self-driving car innovation into the mainstream transport system "through pilot projects and product development efforts", reported The New York Times.
In its press statement, Lyft shared its vision to improve lives with the world's best transportation. Working with Waymo, who shares a similar vision, will speed up the process of turning its vision into reality.Waymo, on another hand, expressed that Lyft's vision can help the company introduce its technologies for autonomous vehicles to more people.
Lyft and Waymo, however, did not give any more details other than the forged partnership. The firms refused to divulge as to when it can give the public's eye a peek into their first self-driving car.
Tainted relationships
At this stage, the autonomous driving car industry is still at its maiden voyage which has become the center of Lyft and Waymo's partnership. The Silicon Valley firms both have ongoing legal battles with another ride-hailing company, Uber, which has already laid down plans to establish its own self-driving car as well. Tainted relationships between these companies are expected to exacerbate over time considering there is so much at stake in this race.
Competitors at work
As many have believed for the self-driving automobile landscape to become a multibillion-dollar industry, Lyft and Waymo are in no way clear of any competition. In fact, Samsung and its partner Hyundai last week had just secured a clearance from the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport allowing the electronic titanand the car manufacturer to begin their run for self-driving automobile tests.
Other companies that have previously shown interest to lay hands on the self-driving car industry include Tesla, General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Honda, Renault-Nissan Alliance, Daimler, Volkswagen Group, BMW, Volvo, Delphi, PSA, and Baidu, among others.
