---
title: "Lyft Finally Launches Its Boston Self-Driving Car Pilot Program"
description: "Announced earlier this year, the pilot is run in concert with NuTonomy."
date: "2017-12-07"
modified: "2017-12-07"
authors:
  - name: "Stephen Edelstein"
    job_title: "Weekend Editor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/stephen-edelstein"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/tech/16779/lyft-finally-launches-its-boston-self-driving-car-pilot-program"
categories:
  - "Car Tech"
  - "News"
  - "Self-Driving Tech"
tags:
  - "Autonomous Cars"
  - "Boston"
  - "Lyft"
  - "nutonomy"
  - "ride sharing"
  - "self-driving cars"
  - "Tech"
---

# Lyft Finally Launches Its Boston Self-Driving Car Pilot Program

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/12/jlxp0167.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Months after [announcing a joint effort](<https://www.thedrive.com/tech/11161/nutonomy-and-lyft-joining-forces-on-self-driving-cars>) to test autonomous ride sharing in Boston, Lyft and startup NuTonomy are finally putting their plan into action. Riders traveling through Boston's Seaport district can now hail a self-driving car using the Lyft app, a NuTonomy press release said.

NuTonomy already operates a [pilot autonomous-taxi service](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/4991/the-worlds-first-self-driving-taxis-are-now-roaming-singapore>) in Singapore, and began giving members of the Boston public rides in self-driving cars shortly before the launch of the Lyft pilot. The company, which was [bought by Delphi](<https://www.thedrive.com/tech/15396/delphi-acquires-self-driving-car-startup-nutonomy>) in October (before Delphi changed its name to Aptiv), still wants more feedback about its self-driving cars, and wants more people to experience them.

Lyft, meanwhile, will get some experience integrating self-driving cars with its ride-hailing app. The company wants to give [a billion rides per year in autonomous electric cars](<https://www.thedrive.com/tech/11601/lyft-wants-to-give-1-billion-rides-per-year-in-self-driving-electric-cars-by-2025>) by 2025, so it had better get cracking on that.

In addition to the Boston ride-sharing pilot, Lyft is planning a similar program in San Francisco with another autonomous-driving startup, [Drive.ai](<https://www.thedrive.com/tech/14181/lyft-prepping-new-self-driving-ride-sharing-program-for-san-francisco-bay-area>). Lyft is now certified to [test self-driving cars on public roads in California](<https://www.thedrive.com/self-driving-cars/16331/lyft-approved-to-test-self-driving-cars-on-public-roads-in-california>), and is [establishing a research and development center](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/12744/lyft-is-pumping-up-its-self-driving-car-development-program>) in Silicon Valley. It's also partnering with [Waymo](<https://www.thedrive.com/tech/10255/lyft-waymo-agree-to-join-forces-on-self-driving-cars>) and [Ford](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/14668/ford-partners-with-lyft-to-build-autonomous-car-infrastructure>) on other aspects of self-driving car development.

The Lyft and NuTonomy pilot program in Boston should help the two companies work out some of the kinks of a ride-sharing service based around self-driving cars, as well as give more people who aren't engineers and computer programs an opportunity to ride in autonomous vehicles. It's an attempt to make a grand economic vision reality.

Automakers and tech companies expect the coupling of self-driving cars and ride sharing to make them a lot of money. Ride sharing is the main reason why Intel believes self-driving cars [will be a $7 trillion business by 2050](<https://www.thedrive.com/tech/11073/heres-why-intel-thinks-self-driving-cars-will-be-a-7-trillion-business>). The ability to draw revenue from a car throughout its lifespan is also a major motivating force behind General Motors' plans to [launch an autonomous ride-sharing service](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/16588/gm-wants-to-launch-a-full-scale-autonomous-ride-sharing-service-in-2019>) in 2019.

## Author
Stephen has always been passionate about cars, and managed to turn that passion into a career as a freelance automotive journalist. When he's not handling weekend coverage for The Drive, you can find him looking for a new book to read.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/SAEdelstein>)