How would you feel if you stepped into your shared Lyft and there was no driver to greet you?
Lyft announced today that it will begin using self-driving cars in 2026.
CEO David Risher shared his excitement for the AVs -- short for autonomous vehicles -- on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“The more AVs out there, the more the rideshare market expands. It’s all part of our promise to serve and connect,” Risher wrote.
USC students braving the pouring rain Wednesday shared a little bit of their thoughts about self-driving cars.
Freshman Moudatou Barry, a biopharmaceutical science major, said no thanks -- she would rather drive herself than depend on the “invisible driver.”
“I really wouldn’t be comfortable in a self-driving car,” Barry said. “I think it’s a little dangerous, like if my car malfunctions what, what, am I supposed to do? It’s just, you know, it’s just a little uncomfortable for me. I got my driver’s license for a reason, so I might as well use it, you know?”
Senior Andy Cho, who studies industrial systems engineering, believes it’s too early to test and prove if autonomous vehicles are truly safe.
“I would say, with, like self driving cars, like I haven’t really seen them much in the market until recently,” Cho said. “I’m sure after three to five or 10 years they’ll become almost perfect.”
When asked if he would be comfortable getting in a self driving car himself, Cho said, “As long as it’s not Waymo.”
Let’s just say Waymo has had to straighten out a few kinks since it launched its autonomous ride service: More than 600 vehicles were recalled last June, and there have been consumer complaints. One passenger posted on social media that he nearly missed his flight after his Waymo began driving in circles.
Graduate music industry student Alex Fucheck said she’s concerned over the growing use of AI to do jobs traditionally performed by humans. That includes driving.
" I think it poses a big threat to the other drivers on the road who are in their cars," Fucheck said. “And I think artificial intelligence can only learn so much up to a certain extent that you know, there’s just like normal human reactions that are necessary in things like driving. So I think its probably safe up to a certain extent, but you know, I don’t think that’s something worth risking, that small percentage of danger.”
The National Law Review found that for every 1 million miles driven by self-driving cars, there are roughly 9 crashes.
Grad student Kelly Kwok said she’s especially worried about self-driving car safety in Los Angeles, where human drivers can be ruthless.
“I don’t think it’s especially safe in the city, especially since it’s so congested and there is so many people,” Kwok said. “Drivers are very unpredictable in the city, so I don’t feel especially safe here.”
Right now it’s too early to know if USC will include automated taxis into its transportation services.
Self-driving cars do seem cool in concept -- but at least for now, not everyone is ready to ditch their ordinary Lyft driver.