Lyft buys an AR company to bolster its self-driving car efforts

Lyft is ramping up it self-driving car strategy on two fronts. To start, the ridesharing mainstay has acquired Blue Vision Labs, a UK-based augmented reality firm whose underlying technology helps cars both know their location and understand their surroundings. The startup will join Lyft's Level 5 team (that is, working on complete autonomy) to contribute its knowledge. TechCrunch has also learned that Blue Vision will serve as the "anchor" for a London research and development wing. This is Lyft's first buyout in the self-driving world, although it's not clear if this will be the last. "We are always evaluating build versus buy," the company's autonomous driving lead Luc Vincent told TechCrunch.