GM President Dan Ammann informed Automotive News that both General Motors and Lyft have benefited from their partnership, but it is by no means exclusive.
It’ll be two years since we first got news that General Motors invested half a billion dollars into the ride-sharing program Lyft. According to Automotive News on their most recent impromptu interview with GM President Dan Ammann earlier today (Dec. 10,2017) if both companies and their recent activity have anything to say on their partnership and the future of ride-hailing attached to autonomous techology it’s that nothing is set in stone.
Earlier in January 2016, GM dropped big news and laid out a plan to develop an on-demand network of self-driving cars connected to a ride-sharing service with Lyft winning out over UBER. Both companies shared a similar view that vehicles on their ride-sharing app wouldn’t be owned by the drivers. In GM’s goal for the partnership, there would be a network of cars that would operate themselves and be available on demand through Lyt’s app.
Two years later and their partnership on autonomous technologies has grown together in some ways but has branched off individually in others.
Lyft has since partnered with Ford, and an investment unit of Google (which is in itself being funded by Fiat Chrysler.) GM has also forged out on its own by acquiring Cruise Automation as an autonomous vehicle deployment company which deploys taxis.
When queried on something concrete that came out of the partnership with GM and Lyft, Ammann cited GM’s Express Drive program which makes GM vehicles available to Lyft drivers. If you want to start earning money as a Lyft driver, you can rent a GM car through Lyft in select cities. Rolled into the rental cost is insurance, maintenance, and no long-term commitments needed. But as these rental vehicles are still being driven by human’s, it’s a far cry from the goals their original partnership envisioned.
I think both companies are seeing that it’s going to be years before autonomous driving technology is at the level where you can safely call on a car without a driver to take you to your destination. Their strategic partnerships with other companies are their way of admitting they need more than just the two of them.
