Shares of Lyft (LYFT +2.80%) were moving higher today after the No. 2 ride-sharing company surprised investors by announcing a new partnership with Waymo, Alphabet's leading autonomous-vehicle technology.
As of 11:22 a.m. ET, Lyft stock was up 12.2% on the news.
Image source: Getty Images.
Lyft scores a win
The stakes are getting higher in the autonomous ride-sharing race, as Tesla has started an autonomous vehicle service in Austin and is looking to expand it to other cities. Amazon, meanwhile, launched its Zoox autonomous shuttle in Las Vegas. However, Waymo remains the clear leader in the category.
On Wednesday, Lyft announced a new partnership to bring Waymo's full autonomous ride-sharing service to Nashville in 2026. The new collaboration will take advantage of Lyft's integrated fleet management services through its Flexdrive subsidiary, which handles fleet management services, such as vehicle maintenance, infrastructure, and depot operations.
According to the terms of the deal, Waymo's vehicles will first be available on the Waymo app and then added to the Lyft app later in the year.
CEO David Risher said in a press release: "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."
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What it means for Lyft
It's unclear where this partnership goes from here, and it likely depends on how the Nashville rollout goes. However, it's clearly a win to form a partnership with the leading autonomous vehicle company, and the market response was strong enough that Uber, which has also teamed up with Waymo, fell several points on the news.
It's the latest evidence that Lyft is a much stronger business than it was a year or two ago.
