Waymo Partners With Lyft: How To Get A Ride In A Self-Driving Vehicle?

Autonomous vehicle manufacturer Waymo has partnered with Lyft (LYFT) to provide the rideshare company with self-driving minivans. Waymo is the Google subsidiary of parent company Alphabet (GOOG).

The self-driving minivans will be used in the Phoenix area. This is the same location where Waymo has been testing its self-driving cars and also where it operates its Waymo One autonomous ridesharing service.

The limited partnership between the two companies, expands Waymo’s reach into the self-driving vehicle market, following its announcement that it was making autonomous vehicles for automakers Nissan and Renault, CNBC reported. Through the partnership, Waymo will be able to get a better understanding of public interest in self-driving vehicles, the news outlet said.

Waymo said it will have up to 10 self-driving minivans in the Phoenix area available for Lyft rides. The autonomous minivans will be available to riders traveling within the geofenced area preselected by Waymo and Lyft.

Riders in this area will be offered the choice between Lyft’s traditional service or a Waymo autonomous minivan for service. A safety driver will be included in the autonomous minivans when the self-driving service is selected by riders.

Shares of Lyft stock were up 2.56 percent as of 10:55 a.m. ET on Thursday while shares of Google were up 0.06 percent at the same time.