Lyft is the newest company to be added to the ever-growing list of those allowed to test their self-driving technology on public roads in California state. The California Department of motor vehicles added Lyft to the list recently, following Lyft’s foundation of a self-driving technology development center earlier this year, and its announcement that it’d work on both its own autonomous tech and with the car manufacturer and other partners.
The fact that the ride-hailing provider secured an autonomous vehicle testing permit from the state DMV could suggest it’s able to start testing its own vehicles and technology on roads very shortly. the company has previously discussed pilot projects with a number of autonomous technology partners to debut self-driving vehicles working on its platform, including with fellow DMV list member Drive.ai, but this may seem to suggest it will take a more active role in the vehicle technology itself in the near future.
Other permit holders include Lyft rival Uber, potential rival (and partner) Waymo, automakers including Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, and Ford, just to name a few.
