Lyft Is Launching a Fleet of Self-Driving Cars in the San Francisco Bay Area

If Uber's scandals, lawsuits, and federal investigations haven't already driven you into the backseat of its competition just yet, maybe this will: Lyft is launching a fleet of self-driving cars and select customers in the San Francisco Bay Area will be offered free rides in autonomous cars developed and operated by self-driving outfit Drive.ai. "We really want to understand, what are all the pieces that need to come into place?" For Drive.ai, a two-year-old self-driving startup, it's a chance to see test out its tech and see how real customers interact with its product. To start, the program will include about a dozen AVs (drawn from Drive.ai's mixed fleet of Lincoln MKZ and Audi A4 sedans), but that number will grow as the company starts spending the $50 million it recently raised in a Series B funding round led by VC firm New Enterprise Associates. Both companies will collect data from customers (mostly through in-app reviews) about their experience, in the hopes of making sure they're comfortable, or at least not terrified. Uber started a pilot program in Pittsburgh last year, which it has since expanded to Tempe, Arizona.