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Here's how Lyft's self-driving pivot alters the competitive landscape
BI Intelligence
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Ride-hailing giant Lyft has a new division devoted to developing hardware and software systems for self-driving cars, according to The New York Times.
This is significant because until this point we expected Lyft to only provide a vehicle network for self-driving cars, not design such systems itself. The unit will be housed in a new facility in Palo Alto, Calif., though the company didn't specify when it would open.
This shift in strategy changes Lyft's place in the autonomous-car ecosystem. Earlier this year, the company laid out plans to operate an open platform for automakers to deploy their self-driving cars. This strategy isn't unique to Lyft — Uber, for instance, will deploy self-driving cars built by Mercedes-Benz. This new division represents a change in tack. Now, Lyft has pivoted and wants to become a technology partner to car manufacturers developing autonomous vehicles.
That could be bad news for other players in the industry.
It's possible this move could allow Lyft to pull ahead of competitors. Lyft is locked in a war with other ride-hailing services to be the first to deploy self-driving vehicles on its network, and brought in Alphabet's Waymo and GM to help it achieve that goal. But this new group focused on designing self-driving systems could work more closely with these partners to accelerate the technological development of their self-driving cars. That, in turn, could help Lyft be the first to deploy vehicles and give it a crucial early-mover advantage in a market that will be sizeable in the coming years.
And it could spell trouble for tech suppliers like Intel or Apple. Lyft's pivot may elimination automakers' need to partner with tech companies for self-driving hardware and software. That means manufacturers could go right to Lyft to design the self-driving systems and deploy vehicles, bypassing tech suppliers altogether.
BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on self-driving cars that:
Sizes the current and future self-driving car market, forecasting shipments and projecting installed base.
Explains the current state of technology, regulation, and consumer perception.
Analyzes how the development of autonomous cars will impact employment and the economy.
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