Lyft Accelerates Self-Driving Program: Future of Autonomous Rides
Prerna Mahtani,
4 years ago
2 min read
A year before, Lyft presented a statement to the California Department of Motor Vehicles that summed up its 2018 autonomous vehicle trial project. The 2019 data shows a distinct story.
What Does The Data Show?
Lyft had 19 autonomous vehicles experimenting on city roads in California in 2019, according to data published ahead this week by the CA DMV.
Those 19 vehicles, which worked during the recording period of December 2018 to November 2019, drove almost 43,000 miles in autonomous form.
The statement is the newest sign that Lyft is attempting to ramp up its self-driving vehicle plan identified as Level 5.
The CA DMV, the company that monitors autonomous vehicle trial on city roads in the state, expects companies to present a yearly report that includes information such as entire AV miles driven and the number of vehicles.
It further expects firms to list “disengagements,” a name that defines each time a self-driving vehicle goes out of the autonomous form either due to its technology missed or a human safety operator took manual charge for security reasons.
Lyft’s Level 5 Plan
Lyft’s Level 5 plan — a bow to the SAE automated driving level that indicates that the vehicle commands all driving in all situations — was started in July 2017. Now, Level 5 hires more than 400 people in the U.S., Munich and London.
Trial on city roads in California started in November 2018 with a pilot plan in Palo Alto that gave rides to Lyft workers in Palo Alto. The pilot gave on-demand rides placed on set routes, such as moving between the Lyft office and Caltrain.
Since then, the organisation has increased the range and geography of the pilot. By the end of 2019, Lyft was transporting four times more autonomous miles per quarter than it was six months earlier.
Lyft is further experimenting on a closed-course track in East Palo Alto that it initiated in November 2019. The company stated that it utilises this facility, which can be modified to incorporate crossings, traffic lights and merges, to examine software before placing its vehicles on city roads.
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