Lyft stock jumped Monday morning after its chief executive announced a plan to offer robotaxis on its app "as soon as 2026." The announcement comes a day before Lyft reports fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday.
Chief Executive David Risher wrote on X that Lyft will work with Japanese conglomerate Marubeni to bring autonomous vehicles to the Lyft app. The vehicles will feature technology from Mobileye, through a partnership Lyft announced late last year.
"As soon as 2026, Marubeni-owned cars w/Mobileye AV tech will launch in (Dallas) on the Lyft platform, with thousands more AVs/other cities to follow," Risher wrote.
On the stock market today, Lyft stock is up more than 3% at 14.73 in recent action.
Lyft And Uber Robotaxi Plans
TechCrunch had reported Lyft's plan earlier Monday morning. The announcement comes as investors are scrutinizing how Lyft and its larger rival Uber Technologies will partner or compete with autonomous vehicle developers. Uber opened a waitlist for riders who want to hail a Waymo autonomous vehicle through its app in Austin.
Uber has also partnered with Waymo in Phoenix and for the Google-backed start-up's upcoming expansion to Atlanta. But Waymo has expanded elsewhere without Uber, including most recently Miami.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk's pledge to create an Airbnb-meets-Uber autonomous ride-hailing business at Tesla has sparked further competition fears.
Jeremy Bird, Lyft's chief policy officer, told TechCrunch that Uber's partnership with Waymo and other AV developers "does create urgency" for Lyft. But the company is more broadly focused on developing strong partnerships with technology developers and companies that own fleets of autonomous vehicles.
"The rest of the value chain is where we really want to play a role, and that's in fleet management, demand generation, and marketplace," Bird told TechCrunch.
Lyft Stock: Q4 Expectations
The news comes just ahead of Lyft's Q4 earnings report due after the market closes Tuesday.
Overall, analysts polled by FactSet expect Lyft will post adjusted earnings of 21 cents per share, up 7% year over year. Sales are estimated to grow 27% to $1.56 billion.
Uber stock fell after the company reported Q4 results early Wednesday. The ride-hail giant's bookings forecast for the current quarter came in below expectations. Uber shares have since recovered, however, and surged Friday after billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman revealed a $2 billion stake in Uber stock.
Robotaxi concerns weighed on both Uber and Lyft stock last year. Uber fell 2% on the year while Lyft lost 5%. But Uber has rallied more than 25% so far this year while Lyft stock is up 15%.
With Monday's early gains, Lyft stock jumped above its 50-day moving average. The stock has not traded above that level since early December, according to MarketSurge.
