Lyft Stock Skyrockets 13% Following Game-Changing Waymo Robotaxi Partnership

Lyft just turbocharged its autonomous future—and investors are piling in.

The ride-hailing giant inked a strategic deal with Alphabet's Waymo to integrate robotaxis into its platform, sending shares soaring 13% in a single session.

Why Wall Street’s Buzzing

Waymo’s fully autonomous vehicles will soon be available to Lyft users in select markets, marking one of the largest-scale commercial deployments of driverless tech to date. No steering wheels, no pedals—just pure AI-driven mobility.

Lyft gets access to cutting-edge autonomous tech without the R&D burn. Waymo gets a ready-made user base and real-world data. A win-win? The market seems to think so.

But let’s be real—this is the same market that once thought Juicero was a billion-dollar idea. Maybe this time they’re right. Or maybe they’re just desperate for anything that isn’t another earnings miss.

Either way, autonomy is no longer a distant dream—it’s hitting the streets. And Lyft’s along for the ride.

More About Waymo X Lyft Deal

Riders may hail Waymo’s fully autonomous vehicles first on the Waymo app, with plans to also dispatch its fleet on Lyft’s network for matched rides later in 2026. It isn’t Waymo’s first deal with a rideshare dispatcher, though, as the Alphabet Robotaxi service has a pre-existing deal with Uber as well. The latter’s stock fell 4.4% on the stock market after its competitor’s announcement.

Lyft has been working to catch up to Tesla and Uber in the rideshare competition of late. In a recent investor’s note to clients, Evercore ISI analyst Mark Mahaney reiterated an In Line rating after Lyft’s mixed second-quarter results, calling the key question “the company’s ability to sustain top-line growth while ramping profitability,” compared to its rivals. “We see LYFT’s valuation as very reasonable,” Mahaney said. Even so, the firm “would like to see positive fundamental trends sustained over time to become constructive on the shares.”

Lyft stock is up 70% year to date versus Uber’s 48% rise during the same period. Uber’s market cap, however, is $195 billion, dwarfing Lyft’s $9 billion valuation.