USA TODAY International Edition
Lyft, Waymo shake hands on deal as the rivalry with Uber intensifies
Alliance likely to involve a pilot program in which consumers ride in vehicles equipped with Waymo’s self- driving system
The company that began as Google’s driverless car project has reached a deal to collaborate with ride- hailing app Lyft on tests of self- driving vehicles.
The deal intensifies the bitter rivalry between Waymo, a division of Google parent Alphabet, and ride- hailing market leader Uber.
It also gives Lyft a powerful new ally in the self- driving car race against its more well- funded adversary Uber. And it places Waymo a step closer to becoming a business with real- world customers.
Monday’s news landed at the same time a judge’s ruling in the case Waymo v. Uber was unsealed, revealing that the court did not grant a potentially damaging injunction against Uber that would have compelled it to stop using any sensor technology that could have been created with Waymo trade secrets.
But the judge did officially order former Google engineer An- thony Levandowski — who started self- driving truck company Otto in early 2016 and Uber bought for $ 670 million last summer — to stop working on any Uber projects related to LiDAR, or light detection and ranging sensors.
Waymo’s suit charges that Levandowski not only stole 14,000 files of trade secrets before leaving Google in January 2016 but that those files helped Uber improve its LiDAR technology. Uber has countered that the suit is just an attempt to stall a competitor in the potentially lucrative race for autonomous car tech.
Last week, the judge, William Alsup, also ordered that the case be reviewed separately by federal prosecutors for possible criminal prosecution for trade secret theft. Alsup denied Uber’s request that the case be settled in arbitration, and instead it is likely to go to trial this fall.
Although details of the alliance between Waymo and Lyft were not released, the deal is expected to involve a pilot program in which consumers will ride in vehicles equipped with Waymo’s selfdriving system.
“Lyft’s vision and commitment to improving the way cities move will help Waymo’s self- driving technology reach more people, in more places,” Waymo said in a statement.
Lyft opponent Uber is already providing rides in partially selfdriving vehicles in Arizona and Pittsburgh.
The latest deal also expands Lyft’s quiver of alliances with selfdriving powerhouses. General Motors, a major investor in Lyft, recently said it would soon begin testing self- driving vehicles through the app’s network.
“The announced partnership between Waymo and Lyft does not affect our existing relationship with Lyft,” GM said Monday in a statement. “We continue to work with Lyft on various aspects of our business.”
Evercore ISI analyst Arndt Ellinghorst said in a note to investors that it’s “likely that Waymo’s motivation for the partnership would be to access the established base of Lyft’s ride- hailing customers as opposed to building a network from scratch.”
After years of testing self- driving cars on the West Coast, Waymo is getting closer to commercial applications. The company last month began accepting applications from Phoenix- area residents interested in testing Chrysler Pacifica Plug- In Hybrid minivans outfitted with Waymo’s autonomous car sensors.
Also Monday, a judge’s ruling in the Waymo v. Uber case was unsealed.