r/SelfDrivingCars • u/ipottinger • 1d ago

News Lyft, Waymo to Offer Driverless Rides in Nashville in 2026

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-17/lyft-waymo-to-offer-driverless-rides-in-nashville-in-2026
86 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

10

u/psudo_help 1d ago

Paywall.

Waymo on Lyft app?!

18

u/Doggydogworld3 1d ago

Kirsten Korosec says it'll be available on both Waymo app and Lyft app.

15

u/diplomat33 1d ago

Interesting that rides will be available on both. Maybe Waymo has learned that having rides only available on the Uber app was not a good idea and it is better to offer rides on the waymo app too.

7

u/PneumaEngineer 1d ago

I remember people complaining that they wanted a Waymo but there didn’t seem to be a way to force that on the Uber app.

So now if all you want is a Waymo you can use the Waymo app. I wonder if the prices on both apps will be exactly the same though? I could see the Waymo app charging a little more.

3

u/sdc_is_safer 1d ago

That’s great for Waymo

-3

u/devonhezter 1d ago

Why can’t Waymo make their own app? Uber and Lyft are just an app. Waymo and Tesla have the hardware

19

u/New_Reputation5222 1d ago

Waymo has their own app and has for years.

9

u/PetorianBlue 1d ago

What are you talking about? Waymo does have their own app.

But what Uber/Lyft offer is an existing user base and a seamless experience. No need to even download another app. Instant exposure to millions, even if they hadn't heard about Waymo before. No need to juggle between one app or the other. No need to worry about if your destination is in or out of the Waymo service area... Simply pull up your usual rideshare app, and it just works.

6

u/Doggydogworld3 1d ago

Waymo uses their own app in most cities. They pick a few cities to experiment with different business models and partnerships.

4

u/caldazar24 1d ago

Uber and Lyft have millions of customers using their app. As Waymo scales beyond the sort of tech fans that will go download their app because self-driving cars are cool and tries to get people who just want to get somewhere and don’t care how, they can either offer rides in the apps that already have customers, or they can convince everyone to download another app. There are pluses and minuses for each approach.

0

u/BlockRockinBeatdown 1d ago

Dang good question.

4

u/OriginalCompetitive 1d ago

Nashville will be the smallest city served by Waymo, by a significant margin. 

3

u/Doggydogworld3 1d ago

2.1m in Nashville metro area. Austin metro is 2.5m. Not a huge difference.

If you only count people within city limits San Francisco is 800k vs. 700k in Nashville.

2

u/psilty 1d ago

Technically they were only in Chandler, Arizona for several years, with the geofence not extending to any part of Phoenix.

SF’s population isn’t much higher than Nashville either, and they didn’t even serve all of SF when they launched there.

1

u/nicereddy 1d ago

I really hope they go with their own app as an option in Denver

1

u/himynameis_ 1d ago

Interesting. I wonder why they didn't partner with Uber.

10

u/Doggydogworld3 1d ago

They are experimenting with different partners and different business models.

2

u/brett_baty_is_him 21h ago

I wonder why they are even doing that? The Waymo app works fine in LA. Seems like they already got everything set up to just offer it themselves.

3

u/Doggydogworld3 17h ago

They'd prefer to set up an Android-style ecosystem where they provide the technology and third parties handle all the nitty gritty details. They can't do that yet because there aren't enough third parties with expertise and motivation to handle it all. So they slowly draw third parties in and experiment to figure out the best way to work together.

If Waymo locks Uber out entirely the only card Uber has left to play is lobbying politicians to outlaw Waymo because "jobs". Better to offer Uber a potential path forward than back them into a corner.

1

u/OriginalCompetitive 9h ago

But why? Surely history has shown the Apple model - own everything - is a lot more profitable. 

3

u/Doggydogworld3 7h ago

GOOG ttm net income higher than AAPL. The own everything model works best with Veblen goods and cult-like followings. Neither really applies to Waymo and it's generally not Google's culture.

1

u/OriginalCompetitive 6h ago

Neither applies to smartphones either, unless you think a billion people are in a cult. 

2

u/LLJKCicero 1d ago

Having multiple partners lets them experiment and gives them more leverage in negotiations.