Driverless tech focus by Lyft

Lyft is focussing on autonomous driving technology at a new Silicon Valley office opening soon.

The facility, named after the highest level of autonomous driving – Level 5, will have several hundred employees by the end of 2017, reports Axios.

The ride-hailing company earlier this year hired Luc Vincent, a former senior director of engineering at Alphabet’s Google who helped develop Google Street View, to lead its autonomous development.

Lyft has been working with General Motors, Jaguar Land Rover and Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo. It also plans to roll out a self-driving pilot project in Boston with autonomous vehicle company Nutonomy.

Lyft says it will continue to partner with other companies aiming to build self-driving cars while developing its own technologies for mapping, perception, localisation, path planning, and motion control.

“We want a proactive role in pushing the industry,” chief strategy officer Raj Kapoor says.

Automakers without self-driving cars will find an eager partner in Lyft, reports Insurance Journal. But Kapoor says Lyft is not getting into car manufacturing.