Riders in Atlanta can now hail a May Mobility robotaxi through the Lyft app. This launch represents the first commercial deployment from the two companies’ partnership. The small fleet of autonomous vehicles is Lyft’s latest attempt to carve out a presence in the competitive robotaxi market.
However, Lyft has significant ground to cover if it hopes to close the gap with its rival Uber. Earlier this year, Bank of America analysts downgraded Lyft stock to “Underperform” from “Buy.” This decision was driven by concerns that the ride-hail firm would lose market share to Waymo’s expansion in California and Uber’s aggressive autonomous vehicle partnership strategy. Analyst sentiment has since improved following Lyft’s strong second-quarter earnings report. The launch of a robotaxi fleet could help sustain that positive momentum, though the initial debut is modest.
The pilot program in Atlanta will utilize a small fleet of hybrid-electric Toyota Sienna vehicles. The service will have limited operating hours, and a human safety operator will be present in the front seat of every vehicle. This launch occurs in a city where Uber and Waymo already began offering fully driverless rides in June.
A company spokesperson stated that Lyft and May Mobility plan to expand their fleet to “dozens, then hundreds and eventually thousands over time” across multiple markets. For now, May’s vehicles will be available to Lyft riders in Midtown Atlanta. Riders can access them on demand or via the “Wait & Save” feature from morning rush hour into the afternoon on weekdays. There are plans to extend service into evenings and weekends soon. During this initial phase, safety operators will be behind the wheel and may take control of the vehicle from time to time.
This deployment follows Lyft’s recent 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 autonomous vehicles on the Lyft app in Dallas as soon as 2026, with plans for thousands more vehicles in other cities to follow.
Not all of Lyft’s autonomous vehicle partnerships have been successful. The company previously launched a robotaxi service with a human safety driver in Las Vegas through 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 restructuring and cutting its workforce. Argo AI shut down entirely in 2022. Lyft had a financial stake in Argo and took a $135.7 million hit when the company folded.
In contrast, rival Uber has collected 20 global autonomous vehicle partners across its ride-hailing, delivery, and freight businesses. Uber reports that these partnerships have already generated an annualized rate of 1.5 million mobility and delivery trips. May Mobility is also one of Uber’s partners. The two companies plan to launch robotaxis in Arlington, Texas this year as part of a multi-year agreement.
For May Mobility, the Atlanta launch marks its second service in Georgia. The company also operates a limited commercial driverless microtransit service in Peachtree Corners. The startup has primarily deployed self-driving shuttles in low-traffic, geofenced environments with designated stops. It currently runs commercial services with a human safety operator in Grand Rapids, Minnesota; Martinez, California; and on the Tokyo waterfront in Japan.