Lyft and Waymo are partnering to bring robotaxis to Nashville

Waymo has struck a deal with ride-hailing company Lyft to launch a robotaxi service in Nashville in 2026.

The company said Wednesday it will begin testing its fleet of all-electric and autonomous Jaguar I-Pace vehicles in the Nashville area in the coming months and will open up the service to the public next year.

The partnership agreement announced Wednesday comes as Waymo ramps up its robotaxi expansion from its initial commercial market of Phoenix to Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The Alphabet-owned company has previously announced plans to bring its robotaxis to Miami, Washington D.C., Dallas, and Denver.

The deal also illustrates Waymo’s desire to move beyond being a sole operator and towards being an autonomous vehicle technology provider. Earlier this year, Waymo launched a robotaxi service with Uber in Atlanta and Austin. Under that arrangement, Waymo is responsible for vehicle testing, roadside assistance, and certain aspects of rider support, while Uber manages fleet services such as vehicle cleaning, maintenance, inspections, charging, and depot operations through a company called Moove Cars.

Waymo’s arrangement with Lyft in Nashville is similar. Lyft will also handle fleet services, such as vehicle readiness and maintenance, infrastructure, and depot operations through its wholly owned subsidiary Flexdrive. Lyft said it’s investing in a purpose-built AV facility to support the fleet. 

The Waymo-Lyft partnership in Nashville has one key difference from the company’s relationship with Uber in Atlanta and Austin. In Nashville, robotaxi customers will be able to access robotaxis in two ways. Users will initially hail rides directly through the Waymo app. Once the service expands, Waymo will also dispatch its autonomous vehicles for matched rides on the Lyft app.

That’s unlike its partnership with Uber in Atlanta and Austin. In those cities, all potential customers have to use the Uber app in hopes of being matched with a robot, not a human driver.

Lyft and Waymo have partnered before, although never at scale. In 2019, Waymo linked up with Lyft to bring a handful of self-driving vehicles onto the ride-hailing network in Phoenix as the company ramped up its commercial robotaxi service.