What new tech is Lyft launching in San Francisco?

Lyft announced Thursday a partnership with Drive.ai to bring autonomous ride-sharing to the streets of San Francisco. Drive.ai focuses on creating artificial intelligence (AI) technology for self-driving vehicles. The state of California has granted Drive.ai a self-driving permit for its AI tech. The cars launched through the partnership will still have a trained driver in the vehicle, for safety.

This pilot program is the latest in a number of partnerships by Lyft with companies like Waymo, and represents a significant step forward by the company in exploring the possibilities of autonomous ride-sharing. By actually putting the cars on the road and letting them use the tech, the program has the potential to gather invaluable data on the real-world implications of autonomous vehicles.