Ford, Lyft will partner to deploy self-driving cars

DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. plans to collaborate with Lyft to deploy Ford self-driving vehicles on the ride services company's network in large numbers by 2021.

Ford and Lyft teams will begin working together to design software to allow Ford vehicles to communicate with Lyft's smartphone apps, Ford said Wednesday.

Ford self-driving test vehicles will be connected to Lyft's network, but at first, customers will not be able to use them, said Sherif Marakby, Ford's vice president for autonomous vehicles and electrification. Ford will put human-driven vehicles on Lyft's network.

Marakby did not say when Ford and Lyft expect to offer the first rides in self-driving cars.

"We're not building prototypes for the sake of building prototypes," he said, adding Ford intends to ultimately put thousands of self-driving vehicles in use.

Ford's new CEO Jim Hackett is scheduled to meet with investors on Tuesday to outline the automaker's strategy for boosting profitability.

Hackett's plans to compete for revenue from mobility services, which include car sharing and ride-hailing, will be one area of focus for investors. The Lyft partnership fills in a piece of the puzzle.

Ford also is testing delivery services using self-driving vehicles and a van shuttle service. The self-driving vehicles Ford will deploy through Lyft will use software developed by Argo AI, a company in which Ford is investing $1 billion over the next five years.

The company has said it will invest $700 million in a factory in Flat Rock, Mich., to make it capable of building electric and self-driving vehicles.

Lyft has said it will offer an open platform for companies to deploy self-driving vehicles on its network, and has partnerships with self-driving vehicle technology startup Drive.ai and Google's self-driving car affiliate Waymo.

Ford, Volvo, Waymo, Lyft and Uber last year formed a coalition to push for federal legislation on self-driving cars. David Strickland, the former top official of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, was named the coalition's counsel and spokesman.

General Motors has a 9 percent stake in Lyft, acquired for $500 million in January 2016. "Our relationship with GM has always been a non-exclusive relationship," Raj Kapoor, Lyft's chief strategy officer, said.

GM is also assembling the assets necessary to launch its own ride services using self-driving cars, building its Maven car-sharing unit and preparing to launch mass production of autonomous Chevrolet Bolt electric cars at a factory in suburban Detroit.