USA TODAY International Edition
In five years, your Lyft will be able to drive itself
So claims co- founder John Zimmer, who says it’s time to reclaim urban roads, parking lots in the form of parks, enhanced pedestrian zones
In five years, SAN FRANCISCO when you hop in a Lyft ride- sharing car, odds are it’ll be driving itself. That’s one of many bold predictions made by Lyft President and co- founder John Zimmer in a lengthy Medium blog post Sunday called “The Third Transportation Revolution: Lyft’s Vision for the Next Ten Years and Beyond.”
The post lands as self- driving car initiatives mushroom, including Ford’s commitment to building one for ride- hailing purposes by 2021 and countless start- ups such as Drive. ai and Comma. ai sprout up to automate existing automobiles.
Perhaps the biggest step forward was made last week by Uber — a Lyft rival that dominates the market — which has begun picking up Pittsburgh- area riders in a small fleet of autonomous cars. The city is home to Uber’s selfdriving car research facility, which is now working in tandem with partner Volvo on developing autonomous technologies.
Uber has raised some $ 15 billion to date, valuing the company at $ 66 billion despite lingering questions about the profitability of the ride service.
In January, Lyft got a $ 500 million cash infusion from General Motors, which is working toward a self- driving fleet of electric Bolt vehicles. According to report in tech media site The
Information last month, GM then tendered an offer of $ 6 billion for Lyft, which was rejected by board members who insisted the second- place ride- hailing company would be worth closer to $ 12 billion by 2017.
Zimmer’s post reads like a thoughtful college term paper complete with historical analysis of this nation’s two other transportation revolutions, one aided by the development of canals and railroads in the 19th century and the second spurred by Henry Ford’s car- multiplying assembly line in the early 20th century.
Lyft’s president argues the time has come to push for a third revolution that will see countless valuable acres of urban roads and parking lots reclaimed by residents in the form of parks and enhanced pedestrian zones.
“The good news is we don’t have to keep building our country around car ownership,” Zimmer writes. “Technology has redefined entire industries around a simple reality: You no longer need to own a product to enjoy its benefits. With Netflix and streaming services, DVD ownership became obsolete. Spotify has made it unnecessary to own CDs and MP3s. Eventually, we’ll look at owning a car in much the same way.” Some other observations: uBy 2025, private car owners in major U. S. cities will be as scarce as horse- and- buggy operators. “Owning a car means monthly car payments, searching for parking, buying fuel and dealing with repairs.”
u Tesla CEO Elon Musk is wrong about the future. “The transition to an autonomous future will not occur primarily through individually owned cars. It will be both more practical and appealing to access autonomous vehicles when they are part of Lyft’s networked fleet.”
u An app- based pay- as- you- go model will rule. “This service will be more flexible than owning a car, giving you access to all the transportation you need.”
u The rise of autonomy doesn’t mean vanishing drivers. “And as more people trade their keys for Lyft, the overall market will grow dramatically.”
Zimmer notes progress already is being made toward a future where cars have a much less imposing footprint. He cites as examples Washington, D. C ., where sidewalks are being widened in the capital’s historic Georgetown district, and Portland, Ore., where urban zones are being given over to parks and trees.
Perhaps the most striking reminder appears in a photo Zimmer includes in his post of the historic Ferry Building in Lyft’s hometown of San Francisco.
Today, that iconic landmark is a sun- splashed tourist magnet given over to farmer’s markets and book stores. Just a few decades ago, however, the building’s elegant clock tower was all but obscured by a garish two- story freeway that ran like a scar across the horizon. The area’s renaissance came after the 1989 earthquake damaged the freeway.
“We have a long way to go. But when I look at the world through my 9- month- old baby girl’s beautiful eyes, I know what we have to do,” he writes. “We must come together and grab this golden ticket to redesign an even greater home. A home that drives community not cars to the center of our everyday life.”
“The good news is we don’t have to keep building our country around car ownership.” Lyft President and co- founder John Zimmer