Lyft partners with Benteler to launch autonomous shuttle service – News

Lyft Inc. is teaming up with Benteler International AG, a major auto parts supplier, to launch an autonomous shuttle service in the U.S.

The companies announced the initiative today. The vehicles are expected to become available next year.

Benteler is participating in the project through its Benteler Mobility unit, which helps cities build autonomous public transit fleets. The unit provides financing for vehicle purchases, maintains those vehicles and performs related tasks. Lyft detailed that Benteler will provide “tens of millions of dollars” in financing to support the autonomous shuttle service.

The service will use an electric self-driving bus made by Benteler’s Holon GmbH unit. The Holon urban, as the vehicle is called, can accommodate up to 15 passengers and features no steering wheel or pedals. Earlier this year, Benteler introduced a new version of the bus with an interior optimized to reduce the need for maintenance and cleaning.

The Holon urban is powered by Mobileye Global Inc.’s Mobileye Drive autonomous driving system. The module contains four of the Intel Corp. unit’s EyeQ 6 systems-on-chip. Each chip, in turn, includes an eight-core central processing unit and accelerators optimized for tasks such as running artificial intelligence models.

The Holon urban combines the Mobileye Drive with more than two dozen sensors. There are 11 cameras, nine lidar sensors and six radars. Lidar sensors can operate under low-visibility conditions that are challenging for cameras, which allows autonomous vehicles to operate at night. Radars, in turn, are necessary because lidars don’t operate reliably during rainfall and snow.

A unit called Benteler Trading International will own the shuttles that Lyft plans to offer through its app. The vehicles will become available to users in late 2026. During the initial phase of the rollout, Lyft plans to deploy the Holon air “in partnership with airports and cities.” That suggests it will use the vehicle to provide airport shuttle and public transit services.

“Benteler Mobility is exactly the kind of partner we need to accelerate our AV ambitions,” said Jeremy Bird, Lyft’s executive vice president of driver experience. “Their fleet ownership and financing capabilities mean they have ambitions to own and operate vehicles at scale, not just build them — a rarity in this industry. All this means we can more quickly deploy AVs.”

Benteler is one of several companies with which Lyft has partnered to support its autonomous vehicle program. Last year, it teamed up with Mobileye to make self-driving cars powered by the Intel unit’s silicon available through its app. Around the same time, Lyft partnered with startup May Mobility Inc. to operate autonomous minivans in Atlanta.

Rival Uber Technologies Inc. has adopted a similar autonomous vehicle strategy that emphasizes working with multiple partners. Earlier this month, it brought automaker Lucid Group Inc. and autonomous driving software startup Nuro Inc. into the fold. Uber reportedly invested more than $600 million in the two companies as part of the partnership. 

Photo: Lyft