Aptiv and Lyft Surpass 50,000 Self-Driving Rides in Las Vegas
Aptiv's self-driving BMWs provide over 50,000 rides through the Lyft app, earning high safety ratings from passengers. Human safety drivers still remain behind the wheel as the indefinite pilot program continues to expand.
Aptiv and Lyft surpass 50,000 self-driving rides in Las Vegas using modified BMW 5 series vehicles. The pilot program begins as a one-week experiment during CES but quickly evolves into an ongoing service over the past 18 months. Passengers give these autonomous rides an average rating of 4.97 out of 5 stars, with 92 percent of riders reporting they feel very safe or extremely safe.
To support this growing operation, Aptiv opens a massive 130,000-square-foot technical center in Las Vegas. This facility houses the expanding fleet of autonomous vehicles along with a dedicated engineering team focused on software and hardware development, system validation, and mapping. The rapid growth from 5,000 rides last August to over 50,000 today highlights the increasing scale of the partnership.
Despite this major milestone, the service operates as a semi-autonomous experience rather than a pure robotaxi business. Human safety drivers sit behind the wheel at all times, and the vehicles switch to manual mode in parking lots and hotel pickup areas. Lyft confirms the program continues indefinitely and hints at future expansions into new cities to introduce more passengers to self-driving technology.