Aptiv launched a fleet of 30 autonomous vehicles in Las Vegas on the Lyft network. All the vehicles will have a human operator.
A product of Aptiv’s Mobility and Services group, these vehicles will operate on Aptiv’s fully-integrated autonomous driving platform and be made available to the public in partnership with Lyft. On an opt-in basis, passengers will have the ability to hail a self-driving vehicle equipped with Aptiv technology to and from high-demand locations.
The cars were debuted with Lyft during CES this year, and they successfully self-navigated the streets of Las Vegas.
The autonomous driving platform includes all three types of sensors – LiDAR, radar and vision – which create a 360-degree view of safety when combined with our best-in-class AD algorithms, sensor fusion and compute platform.
The massive amounts of data will gather on how these cars react to countless, unpredictable scenarios – all with operators ready to take over if needed – is invaluable and will help us improve our systems across the board.
Aptiv will continue to fine-tune its management and expertise in the care and feeding of an entire fleet of autonomous cars. What does it take to optimize a broad ecosystem and the lifecycle of a self-driving car? From the AD technology, to the passengers’ user experience, to fueling, cleaning and maintenance – what does it take to manage this at scale? Aptiv claims it is creating, with partners – like Lyft – a commercially viable ecosystem that is easy to use and enjoyable for consumers.
This partnership is a multiyear agreement between the two companies and a clear step toward generating revenue for Aptiv’s autonomous driving business. Both companies will leverage Aptiv’s connected services capabilities and Lyft’s ride-hailing experience to provide valuable insights on self-driving fleet operations and management.
“With Aptiv’s autonomous driving technology deployed throughout Las Vegas and broadly accessible through the Lyft app, a wide range of consumers will be able to share the experience of autonomous vehicles in a complex urban environment,” said Kevin Clark, Aptiv president and chief executive officer. “More importantly, the resulting knowledge and data will allow us to further refine our autonomous driving capabilities and strengthen our portfolio of industry-leading active safety solutions.”
The combination of Aptiv’s autonomous driving technology and Lyft’s ride-hailing app is the expansion of a successful partnership that launched in Las Vegas during CES 2018. That initial pilot provided more than 400 self-driving rides to the public and earned an average customer rating of 4.99 out of five stars. Like the CES program, vehicles will be operated by highly-trained safety drivers.
Aptiv, built on decades of experience in automotive performance, has a strong foundation in delivering safe technologies. The company prioritizes and meets high-level functional safety requirements in both its software and hardware validation.
Aptiv autonomous vehicles on the Lyft network will be available to the general public in Las Vegas starting May 3.
This is an important next step for Aptiv on its path to commercialization for Automated Mobility on Demand (AMoD) in a thoughtful, prudent and safe manner. The company stated that “Safety remains our number one priority, and we are going to deploy this fleet slowly and safely, gathering data and insights as we go. Each car will have operators who have been extensively trained, both on and off the road.”
Aptiv is a global technology company that develops safer, greener and more connected solutions, which enable the future of mobility. Headquartered in Dublin, Aptiv has 147,000 employees and operates 14 technical centers, as well as manufacturing sites and customer support centers in 45 countries. Visit aptiv.com.
Lyft was founded in June 2012 by Logan Green and John Zimmer to improve people’s lives with the world’s best transportation. Lyft is the fastest growing rideshare company in the U.S. and is available to 95 percent of the U.S. population, as well as Ontario, Canada. Lyft is preferred by drivers and passengers for its safe and friendly experience, and its commitment to effecting positive change for the future of our cities.