Riders in Atlanta can now hail a May Mobility robotaxi on the Lyft app, marking the first commercial deployment in the two companies’ partnership. The small fleet of autonomous vehicles is Lyft’s latest attempt to carve out a presence in the robotaxi market.
Lyft’s Atlanta launch signals an effort to carve out a piece of the robotaxi market. But it has a lot of catching up to do if it hopes to close the gap with rival Uber. Earlier this year, Bank of America analysts downgraded the stock to “Underperform” from “Buy” due to concerns that the ride-hail firm would lose market share to Waymo’s California expansion and Uber’s aggressive AV partnership strategy.
Analyst sentiment has since brightened after Lyft reported strong second-quarter earnings; launching a robotaxi fleet could help sustain that momentum. That said, the debut is modest.
Lyft and May Mobility are starting their pilot with a small fleet of hybrid-electric Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS vehicles, limited operating hours, and a human safety operator in the front seat. The companies are also entering a city where Uber and Waymo started offering fully driverless rides in June.
A spokesperson told TechCrunch that Lyft and May plan to expand to “dozens, then hundreds and eventually thousands over time” across multiple markets.
May’s vehicles will be available to Lyft riders ordering on demand or via the “Wait & Save” feature starting in Midtown Atlanta from morning rush hour into the afternoon Monday through Friday, with plans to extend into evenings and weekends soon.
Safety operators who “may take control from time to time,” will be behind the wheel during the first phase of the Atlanta rollout, the spokesperson said.
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Lyft’s deployment with May Mobility comes a month after the company announced a deal with China’s Baidu to launch robotaxis in Europe next year. Lyft CEO David Risher has also said the company would work with Mobileye to deploy Mobileye-powered vehicles on the Lyft app in Dallas “as soon as 2026,” with “thousands more AVs/other cities to follow.”
Not all of Lyft’s AV partnerships have panned out. The company previously launched a robotaxi service – always with a human safety driver behind the wheel – in Las Vegas via a partnership with Motional. It had a similar agreement in Austin and Miami with Argo AI. However, Motional paused that partnership in May 2024 after slashing its workforce, and Argo AI shut down in 2022. Lyft had a stake in Argo, and took a $135.7 million hit when the company folded.
Rival Uber has collected 20 global AV partners across its ride-hailing, delivery, and freight businesses which the company says have already generated an annualized rate of 1.5 million mobility and delivery trips. May Mobility is one of Uber’s partners, as well. The two plan to launch robotaxis in Arlington, Texas this year as part of a multi-year partnership.
For May Mobility, the Atlanta launch marks its second in Georgia; the company also operates a limited commercial driverless microtransit service in Peachtree Corners. The startup has mainly deployed self-driving shuttles in low-traffic environments in geofenced areas with designated stops. It is running commercial services, with a human safety operator, in Grand Rapids, Minnesota; Martinez, California; and the Tokyo waterfront in Japan.
