Lyft Inks Partnership With Waymo To Deploy Robotaxis In Nashville

Lyft (LYFT) and Alphabet’s (GOOG, GOOGL) Waymo on Wednesday announced a fresh partnership to bring the latter’s fully autonomous ride-hailing service to Nashville in 2026.

Riders can hail Waymo robotaxis initially on the Waymo app in Nashville. There are also plans to dispatch Waymo's fleet on Lyft’s network for matched rides later in 2026, Lyft said, while adding that this approach will maximize fleet utilization. On the Lyft platform, Waymo’s robotaxis will serve alongside its driver community.

The ride-hailing platform said that it will provide end-to-end fleet management, including vehicle maintenance, infrastructure, and depot operations for the Nashville Waymo fleet through its Flexdrive unit. The company added that it will construct a purpose-built autonomous vehicle (AV) fleet management facility with charging and vehicle service capabilities as part of the partnership. However, the company did not divulge the investment slated for the facility.

This marks the first commercial deployment of Waymo’s robotaxis on the Lyft platform. Earlier this month, Lyft also launched an AV service in partnership with Michigan-based May Mobility in Atlanta, where Waymo robotaxis are available on its rival Uber Technologies’ (UBER) platform.

Shares of LYFT traded 11% higher on Wednesday morning at the time of writing. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around LYFT stock stayed within the ‘extremely bullish’ territory over the past 24 hours, while message volume stayed at ‘extremely high’ levels. Shares of Uber Technologies, however, slumped over 5% over the news.

Waymo currently has commercial operations in Austin, Texas, as well as Atlanta, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles. Customers in these cities can either take a robotaxi ride via the Waymo One app or through Uber. The company is also planning to expand its services to Dallas, Miami, Washington, D.C., Denver, and New York City.

LYFT stock is up by 74% this year and by about 84% over the past 12 months. 

Read also: Eli Lilly Says Its Obesity Pill Topped Novo Nordisk’s Oral Drug In Late-Stage Diabetes Trial

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.