Lyft inks deals with Mobileye, others to bring robotaxis to ridehail platform

(Reuters) - Lyft said on Wednesday it will partner with Mobileye and two other companies in the robotaxi industry to bring self-driving cars onto its ridehail platform and bolster research and development in the sector.

The app-based taxi platform will incorporate cars owned by third-party fleet operators, equipped with the Mobileye Drive self-driving system, as it looks to compete with rival Uber, which has signed a slew of autonomous taxi agreements.

Lyft, which is set to report quarterly results after markets close, said it will also collaborate with May Mobility to deploy self-driving taxis in Atlanta starting next year.

It will also work with Nexar, which designs products that improve driving by using machine learning and computer vision, to explore how the companies can bolster research and development in the autonomous vehicle industry using Lyft's fleet data and the technology firm's bank of vehicle video footage.

Lyft's series of agreements follows market leader Uber's expansion of partnership with Alphabet's Waymo and new deals General Motors' Cruise and China's WeRide among others to cement its lead in the robotaxi segment.

Analysts and industry experts have cautioned that developing autonomous driving systems and robotaxis will be challenging and time-consuming due to engineering and regulatory hurdles.

Electric vehicle maker Tesla last month unveiled its Cybercab robotaxi concept, slated for production in 2026, and has begun testing ridehail services with employees in San Francisco.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)