Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation, and now, more than ever, the role AI is playing in it.

Lyft reached a new milestone this week when Waymo robotaxis landed on its app in Nashville. Under the partnership, Lyft handles fleet services, such as vehicle readiness and maintenance, as well as infrastructure and depot operations through its wholly owned subsidiary Flexdrive. 

In Nashville, customers can hail a Waymo robotaxi directly from the Waymo app, or try their luck on the Lyft app, which will match riders with a Waymo depending on availability. 

Lyft has more than dabbled in autonomous vehicle technology over the years, including through partnerships with Aptiv (now Motional) in Las Vegas, May Mobility in Atlanta, Baidu in London, and Waymo in Phoenix. But this week is notable because it marks Lyft’s first true entry into commercial robotaxi services using driverless vehicles without a human operator behind the wheel.

Lest you forget, the company spent four years and millions of dollars developing its own AV tech under its Level 5 business division. Lyft sold its autonomous vehicle unit to Toyota’s Woven Planet Holdings subsidiary for $550 million in 2021 — one of many acquisitions during a period of widespread consolidation across the nascent industry. 

Lyft then took a break from AVs as it focused on its core ride-hailing business. But it didn’t dismiss the idea altogether. 

I spoke to Jeremy Bird, Lyft’s executive vice president of growth, about the milestone and thought I would share a few insights. In his role, Bird manages Lyft’s international, luxury, and autonomous vehicle plans — and sometimes all three may converge.  

When I asked Bird when we’ll see more robotaxis on the Lyft app — and where — he didn’t get too specific. But he did say the company went into 2026 focused on its partnership with Waymo in Nashville and Baidu in London (where commercial service has not yet launched). 

“I think next year what you'll see is more diversification of that,” he said, adding that ideally this would include expanding Lyft’s partnership with both partners. “I think next year will be a big year for us.”

And it seems international markets are a big part of that AV expansion plan. Bird called London a “fascinating market,” and throughout our conversation he repeatedly talked about Lyft as a global company, a notable shift from just a few years ago when it was focused on the U.S. market. 

So, where is Lyft headed next? When it comes to international markets, Lyft seems to be prioritizing locations where it can operate a hybrid network — meaning AVs and human-driven vehicles — from the get-go. 

“We are a global company becoming more global, which is important for us,” he said. “And AVs will be the way we think about the future. Like any market we go into, is there an AV component to that? Is it a market where AVs are already open regulatorily, or that would put that market up higher on our list of the places we want to go?”

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Notable reads and other tidbits

Autonomy, the California electric vehicle subscription service created by TrueCar founder Scott Painter, is pivoting. The company, which almost went out of business, is adding internal combustion engine vehicles to its fleet. 

Beta Technologies, Joby Aviation, and Wisk, three companies developing electric aircraft, began test flight demonstrations in Texas as part of the Federal Aviation Administration's Advanced Air Mobility and Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) Integration Pilot Program (eIPP). The weeklong campaign will allow these companies to test real-world routes, including to the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.

Travis Kalanick’s startup Atoms is preparing for a hiring spree in a bid to go after the robotaxi business, the Financial Times reported. 

TechCrunch reporter Jagmeet Singh digs into Uber rival inDrive and its push to scale beyond ride-hailing.

One more thing …

U.S.-based autonomous vehicle developers may get the bulk of the attention these days, but there is a lot of notable activity occurring outside of the country. This week alone we saw China AV developer Pony.ai and Croatia-based Verne (another Mate Rimac company) begin fully driverless test rides with passengers on public roads in Zagreb, while Spain issued the first national AV permits to WeRide and partners Uber and Avomo.

Meanwhile, Chinese autonomous delivery company Neolix began testing on a closed course in Japan, and Pony.ai pulled the human safety operator out of its AV test vehicles during demonstrations in Doha, Qatar. Pony.ai, along with partner Mowasalat, still has human operators behind the wheel of robotaxis in its commercial service.