Uber-Rival Lyft Ups Self-Driving Ante, Declares Climate Impact Goals

Ride-hailing service Lyft declared it’s Climate Impact Goals Thursday, declaring its aim of reduce carbon emissions from its cars going forward. The company also announced its support and commitment towards the Paris Climate agreement.

“Climate change is one of the defining issues and greatest global threats of our time. Lyft was founded on the belief that technology will enable us to dramatically reduce carbon emissions from the transportation system while improving quality of life and access to opportunity for all Americans. We’re more determined now than ever before to make that vision a reality,” the company stated on its website.

Read: Uber Vs. Lyft: #DeleteUber Is Back After Former Engineer Told Her Sexual Harassment Story

Lyft has also hired environmentalist and writer Paul Hawken, who is also the executive director of the Project Drawdown, which works to control global warming. As a part of its efforts, Lyft will aim to:

• Power all its electric autonomous vehicles with 100 percent renewable energy. To pursue this goal, the company will bring nuTonomy autonomous cars to Boston later this year. The company announced its partnership with nuTonomy earlier this month.
• Provide at least 1 billion rides per year using electric autonomous vehicles by 2025.
• Reduce CO2 emissions for the U.S. transportation sector as a whole by at least 5 million tons per year by 2025.

The company added that ride-sharing services, combined with autonomous vehicles and eco-friendly electric cars could play a significant role in helping reduce carbon emissions entailing a vision of the future in which autonomous electric cars could help reduce not just emissions but even the number of cars on the roads aided by ride-hailing.

“The average car is used only 4 percent of the time and for electric vehicles, it takes 10 years or more to recover the cost premium through fuel savings. In comparison, Lyft vehicles can be used much more efficiently - an electric, autonomous Lyft vehicle will be utilized over 50 percent of the time and payback its costs in just a few years through operational savings. These savings will dramatically accelerate the rollout of electric vehicles displacing millions of gasoline-powered cars and helping the U.S. and world reach their climate goals,” the company stated.

The company claims that autonomous electric cars would comprise the majority of cars on the road in the coming 20 years.

Read: Lyft Adds New Cities As #DeleteUber Protest Continues

Lyft has been giving tough competition to its larger rival Uber, both in terms of ride-hailing technology and services. It is gaining an edge on its larger rival, valued at around $64 billion in comparison to its 4.5 billion valuation. While Uber has been embroiled in scandal after scandal since the start of the year, Lyft has been giving it a run for its money by launching its service in new cities even retiring its iconic moustache for better consumer experience.