Perhaps you’ve seen the white Jaguars whizzing around Atlanta with no one in the driver’s seat. Uber has made them a big part of their rideshare fleet in Atlanta. Well, that lane’s getting wider, so to speak.
Self-driving startup May Mobility said recently that it will launch a driverless taxi service in Atlanta in 2026 in partnership with Lyft Inc.
May Mobility Teams With Lyft in Atlanta
The service will initially operate in a limited area of the city, with plans to expand over time.The move intensifies competition in the race to deploy robotaxis on a large scale.
Waymo, which launched its commercial service in Atlanta in March, is already operating in parts of the city, including downtown, Midtown and the southside.
May Mobility’s service will use a fleet of about 50 Toyota Sienna minivans equipped with the startup’s autonomous technology.
The vehicles will be fully driverless, without safety drivers on board, the company said.Lyft, which has a partnership with May Mobility dating back to 2020, will integrate the service into its app, allowing riders to hail the autonomous vehicles the same way they do human drivers.
“This is a big step forward for autonomous mobility in Atlanta,” said Edwin Olson, chief executive of May Mobility. “We’re excited to bring this technology to one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S.”
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens praised the partnership, saying it would create jobs and reduce traffic congestion.
“Autonomous vehicles have the potential to transform how we move around our city,” Dickens said in a statement. “This partnership with May Mobility and Lyft will help us get there.”
May Mobility, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., has been testing its technology in Austin, Texas, and other cities. The company has raised more than $150 million in funding, including from Toyota and Japan’s Mitsui & Co.
The startup’s technology relies on a combination of lidar, radar and cameras to navigate roads. Unlike Waymo, which uses a more complex array of sensors, May Mobility says its approach is simpler and cheaper to scale.
Waymo, a unit of Alphabet’s Google, has been the leader in the robotaxi space, operating in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles and now Atlanta. The company has completed millions of miles of autonomous driving and is expanding its fleet rapidly.
But May Mobility’s entry could pressure Waymo to lower prices or expand faster. Lyft, which has struggled to compete with Uber Technologies Inc., sees autonomous vehicles as a way to cut costs and improve reliability.
“Partnering with May Mobility allows us to offer riders a new option that’s safe, reliable and affordable,” said Lyft Chief Executive David Risher.
The launch comes amid regulatory scrutiny of autonomous vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating incidents involving Waymo and Cruise, General Motors Co.’s robotaxi unit, which suspended operations last year after a pedestrian accident.Georgia regulators have been supportive of AV testing, approving May Mobility’s permit to operate driverless vehicles earlier this year.
Still, challenges remain. Atlanta’s streets are narrower and more congested than those in Phoenix, where Waymo got its start. Bad weather and construction zones can also complicate autonomous navigation.
Final Word
May Mobility plans to start with supervised testing later this year before going fully driverless in 2026.“We’ve learned a lot from our operations in other cities, and we’re applying those lessons here,” Olson said.
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