Lyft CEO David Risher on partnership with Waymo: 'This is just getting started'

Partnership Overview - Lyft announces a partnership with Whimo to bring fully autonomous rides starting in Nashville next year, aiming for a long-term collaboration [1][2][3] - The partnership focuses on demand generation, leveraging Lyft's 2 million rides a day across North America to keep Whimo's self-driving car fleet utilized [3][4] - Fleet management, including charging, cleaning, and maintaining the cars, is a key component of the partnership, utilizing Lyft's subsidiary Flex Drive, which manages approximately 15,000 cars [5][7] Competitive Advantage - Lyft differentiates itself from Whimo's other partnerships, including Uber, through its unique fleet management expertise via Flex Drive [6][7] - Lyft's fleet management ensures car availability over 90%, which is industry-leading [8] Strategic Rationale - Whimo partners with Lyft to leverage its existing ride-sharing infrastructure, including pricing, ETA estimation, and customer service, which has cost billions of dollars to develop over 12-13 years [11][12][13][14] - Autonomous car markets are experiencing faster growth compared to other markets where Lyft operates [17] Financial Implications - The Whimo partnership is expected to positively impact Lyft's growth and profitability, driven by customer obsession and the appeal of self-driving cars [16][17][18] - Autonomous cars can lead to lower insurance costs and the elimination of driver payments, although there will be new maintenance costs [17]