Ford, Lyft ink partnership on self-driving cars

DETROIT: Ford Motor Co said yesterday it will collaborate with Lyft to deploy Ford self-driving vehicles on the ride services firm’s network in large numbers by 2021.

Ford and Lyft teams will begin working together to design software to allow Ford vehicles to communicate with Lyft’s smartphone apps.

Ford self-driving test vehicles would be connected to Lyft’s network, but at first, customers would not be able to use them, said Sherif Marakby, Ford’s vicepresident for autonomous vehicles and electrification.

He said Ford would first put human-driven vehicles on Lyft’s network.

Marakby said Ford intended to ultimately put thousands of selfdriving vehicles in use.

Ford’s new chief executive Jim Hackett would be meeting investors to outline the carmaker’s strategy to boost profitability.

His plans to compete for revenue from mobility services, which include car-sharing and ride-hailing, will be one area of focus for investors.

Ford also is testing delivery services using self-driving vehicles and a van shuttle service. The self-driving vehicles Ford will deploy through Lyft will use software developed by Argo AI, a company in which Ford is investing US$1 billion (RM4.22 billion) over the next five years.

The company has said it would invest US$700 million in a factory in Michigan, to make it capable of building electric and self-driving vehicles.

Lyft has said it will offer an open platform for companies to deploy self-driving vehicles on its network, and has partnerships with self driving vehicle technology startup Drive.ai and Alphabet Inc’s Waymo self driving car unit. Reuters