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Lyft President Predicts Majority of Lyft Rides Will Be in Driverless Cars by 2021

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John Zimmer, the president of Lyft, has predicted that the majority of the company’s rides will be self-driving by 2021

The automotive industry isn’t quite ready for self-driving vehicles just yet, but Lyft President John Zimmer predicts that this technology will be available sooner than we think. In a recently published essay, titled “The Road Ahead,” Zimmer made the claim that the majority of Lyft rides will be in autonomous vehicles by 2021.

Throughout the essay, Zimmer touches on a variety of transportation subjects, but mostly focuses on the idea of self-driving rideshare vehicles. His prediction states that these vehicles will become prominent in 2017 on fixed routes, and then will enter an open-route network in low-speed areas. The vision doesn’t include autonomous vehicles in all areas of all speeds until 2020, which is when the majority of the rides will be in self-driving vehicles.


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Along with focusing on self-driving vehicles, he also takes a look at the decline of individual car ownership. He also claims that the idea of individual car ownership will be non-existent by 2025.

While both of these ideas seem rather far-fetched—especially the idea of car ownership becoming outmoded—Zimmer does bring up some valid points throughout the essay. It is focused on reclaiming our cities from the overcrowding of vehicles. Currently, our cities have become more automotive-focused, causing them to expand to accommodate the vehicles. Zimmer states in his essay that, in the future, a subscription-based network of autonomous vehicles will help cities become people-centric again.


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“Once this happens—once autonomous networks provide better service at a lower cost—our country will pass a tipping point,” Zimmer wrote. “And by 2025, owning a car will go the way of the DVD. Until then, over the next 5 to 10 years there will be both driver and driverless cars on the road, which we call a hybrid network.”

In Zimmer’s future, it appears that we will have no need for our own vehicles anymore—at least not in cities. He doesn’t address life in rural areas, though, so this prediction might not be as feasible as you might think.

News Source: Medium.com