Stock shares in rideshare service Lyft (LYFT) climbed over 13% on Wednesday after the company announced a deal with Alphabet’s Waymo robotaxi service. The two will roll out an autonomous ride-hailing service in Nashville next year, per Lyft’s Wednesday announcement. This new collaboration will leverage Lyft’s proprietary integrated fleet management services through its Flexdrive subsidiary, which will provide end-to-end fleet management.
“This partnership brings together best-in-class autonomous vehicles with best-in-class customer experience,” said Lyft CEO David Risher. “Waymo has proven that its autonomous technology works at scale. When combined with Lyft’s customer-obsession and world-class fleet management capabilities, it’s two great tastes that go great together.”
“We’re delighted to partner with Lyft and launch in Nashville next year, as we continue to scale our Waymo ride-hailing service to more people in more places,” added Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana. “Lyft’s extensive fleet management capabilities through Flexdrive make them an ideal partner for expanding to Nashville. We can’t wait to introduce Music City’s residents and visitors to the convenient, consistent, safe, and magical Waymo experience.”
More About Waymo X Lyft Deal
Riders may hail Waymo’s fully autonomous vehicles first on the Waymo app, with plans to also dispatch its fleet on Lyft’s network for matched rides later in 2026. It isn’t Waymo’s first deal with a rideshare dispatcher, though, as the Alphabet Robotaxi service has a pre-existing deal with Uber as well. The latter’s stock fell 4.4% on the stock market after its competitor’s announcement.
Lyft has been working to catch up to Tesla and Uber in the rideshare competition of late. In a recent investor’s note to clients, Evercore ISI analyst Mark Mahaney reiterated an In Line rating after Lyft’s mixed second-quarter results, calling the key question “the company’s ability to sustain top-line growth while ramping profitability,” compared to its rivals. “We see LYFT’s valuation as very reasonable,” Mahaney said. Even so, the firm “would like to see positive fundamental trends sustained over time to become constructive on the shares.”
Lyft stock is up 70% year to date versus Uber’s 48% rise during the same period. Uber’s market cap, however, is $195 billion, dwarfing Lyft’s $9 billion valuation.
