Lyft Will Mostly Have Autonomous Cabs By 2021 To Make The World A Better Place

With Uber already having a fleet of self-driving cars in the streets of Pittsburg, it was only natural that its competitor Lyft would weigh in on the subject of autonomous cabs. This is despite the fact that it doesn’t have road-ready self-driving vehicles of its own. This hasn’t stopped the smaller cab hailing company from expressing its ambitions of dominating the market, as well as stressing the importance of ride-sharing other than for profit.

In a really long piece about the future of self-driving technology as Lyft sees it, the cab hailing company details exactly what it believes its role will be in what it calls the “Third Transportation Revolution.” The treatise was written by co-founder and President of Lyft, John Zimmer and he indicates that he believes that the majority of cabs used by the company by 2021 will be fully autonomous.

Zimmer also touched on the matter of owning cars as personal transport, writing that they would be phased out eventually. Supposedly, people would rather opt for shared rides rather than have their own vehicles to get around.

In an interview with Tech Crunch, Zimmer iterated his views when it comes to self-driving vehicles in terms of its impact on society. Instead of simple marketing gimmicks or as a means to gain more profit, the Lyft president believes that self-driving vehicles and ride-sharing will address a fundamental flaw in how society currently works.

“If you think about ground transportation, 96 percent of the time the car is parked, that’s like a horrible, horrible business,” Zimmer explains. “Americans spend more money on cars than they do on food, and the thing is parked 96 percent of the time […] and it takes up a large amount of city infrastructure.”

This is an issue that self-driving cabs can address, but Zimmer also admits this road is paved with obstacles. Comfort, convenience, and cohabitation would be important factors to consider, which Lyft reportedly intends to do.