Lyft Unveils Self-Driving Car Service in Las Vegas (With Caveats)

Earlier this year, three other companies introduced self-driving services in San Francisco, Miami and Austin, Texas. All said these services would not include safety drivers. And, in at least some cases, these cars are now operating without drivers. But they are available only to a few riders, many of whom are friends or family of the companies’ employees.

Reporters are not allowed to use these services without a driver behind the wheel.

As it stands, only one completely public service operates without safety drivers. Waymo, owned by Google’s parent company, offers a driverless service in the suburbs of Phoenix, where the roads are wide, the weather is predictable and the pedestrians are few.

Even as new services expand to places like San Francisco, they include significant caveats. They will be available only in tightly constrained areas. They will operate at speeds below 35 or 40 miles an hour. They will shut down in unfavorable weather. And companies will employ technicians who can take control of the car from afar if anything goes awry.

Karl Iagnemma, the chief executive of Motional, the company that will operate Lyft’s self-driving cars in Las Vegas, said this was to be expected. “The technology needed for autonomous driving is enormously complicated,” he said. “The solution will be found incrementally.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/16/technology/lyft-self-driving-cars-las-vegas.html