On the morning of September 27, 2017; Ford and Lyft have announced they will be
working together to create self driving cars on the ride-hail service app by 2021. For those who
don’t know about the ride-hail service, it’s an app makes it an easy place for people to call for an
Lyft or Uber car to come.
Ford and Lyft engineers and staff with be working together make the Ford self-driving
cars that will communicate with the Lyft app.This feels like the cars come on-demand and all the
users have to do is open and call up a car, and it will come to them. They both want to make a
self-driving that is safe and reliable on the roads. Ford has announced they will be investing
over one billion dollars into this idea and hopes of this becoming the future.
Sherif Marakby, Ford’s vice president for autonomous vehicles and electrification states,
“Think of it this way: Someday, when you open the Lyft app during a period of high demand,
Ford and Lyft software will need to be capable of quickly dispatching a self-driving vehicle so
that you can get to your destination as quickly and as safely as possible.”
She has a good point on how the demand for Lyft cars is increasing and this new idea of
self-driving cars will be changing the world. Regular cars will be decreasing in production and
sales in the near future. This will affect many car companies that will not be making self-driving
or adding on new features that some self-driving cars have. They will most likely have a
decrease in sales because everyone wants to latest and best self driving cars.
A statement from one of our driver’s ed teachers Mr. Balella,“I am not against them, but I
am not for them. I think everyone should still know how to drive and not just rely on them.”
This is a good point because everyone should be able to and know how to drive. Many
industries agree that many consumers will not be buying self-driving cars, they’ll probably be
using them in either a ride-hailing or car-sharing network. Uber is another car transport company
that is always working on trying to be the first to have self-driving cars and having them being
controlled with an app. Both companies are trying to keep quiet and keep their ideas separate.
Lyft is partnered with over five other car companies from General Motors to Jaguar. They were
actually able to switch over some companies from supporting and investing in Uber, to having
them invest in Lyft. This created a lot of drama and tension between these companies. These
cars will be active soon in the future. Thanks to many car companies, for trying to create
self-driving cars.