Lyft is bringing its own app to Rome during October for riders who already use it in the United States and Canada. The company says visitors to the rest of Italy should have that same app by the end of the month. The launch is aimed at those North American travellers. People who already ride in Europe, including in Italy, are told to stay with Freenow by Lyft and Gett by Lyft.
Lyft announced the expansion on 30 September 2026. Early access began that day in Barcelona and Hamburg. Through October the app is due in London, Rome, Paris, Berlin, Athens and Warsaw. By the end of the month Lyft says it will cover riders visiting Spain, Italy, Greece, Poland, England, Scotland, Ireland, Austria, France and Germany. The company said the plan follows a summer beta test of the Lyft app in Europe. Its release treats the timetable as forward-looking, and says the timing and scope can change.
Riders keep the app, account and payment methods they use at home. Within the next year, Lyft says, they will be able to choose whether they pay in their home currency, such as US dollars, or in the local currency, such as euros.
Sid Patil, Lyft's chief rideshare and marketplace officer, said: "Millions of riders across North America trust Lyft to get them where they're going every day. Now that same app works the moment they land in Europe. No need to download anything new." He added: "Every market we connect makes the network stronger for riders and drivers. This expansion takes us from being your neighborhood rideshare app to a global, multi-mobility platform."
How a booking is filled
Lyft says it built a new backend that connects the rider app to a third-party marketplace, and so to that marketplace's drivers. The system was made for the European expansion. This launch is its first use, and Lyft says further marketplaces in further countries can be added later. The company has not named the operators who will supply cars in Rome.
Drivers on Freenow by Lyft and Gett by Lyft are the people Lyft says will see the new trips, as North American travellers book in the Lyft app. Lyft has not said that a Rome booking on that app will be a Freenow car.
Freenow is the Lyft-owned app already working in Italy. Lyft completed the purchase on 31 July 2025, buying Freenow from BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz Mobility for about €175 million ($197 million). Country managers stayed in place, including in Italy, one of nine European countries in the business. Lyft describes Freenow as a European taxi app, with taxis and private hire vehicles among the modes it offers.
On 3 September 2026 Lyft said Freenow was expanding its driver base across 13 cities in Italy, Rome and Milan especially. Lyft said more drivers on the platform would mean shorter waits and more options for passengers in Italy. The same note put Freenow in more than 200 cities across nine countries.
Gett is a different business. Lyft has acquired Gett's UK operation, which it describes as a London black-cab app. The Europe launch notice does not present Gett as a supplier of cars in Italy.
Uber in the same market
Italy does not permit the private-driver model used in much of the United States. On 15 July 2026 Corriere della Sera reported that Uber works in Italy only through licensed NCC drivers, noleggio con conducente, or chauffeur-driven hire. The paper said the original ride-hailing model, with private drivers, is not allowed.
The ban on the unlicensed service goes back to UberPop. On 26 May 2015 a Milan court banned that app across Italy. ANSA reported that the judge treated it as unfair competition with taxi drivers, because a passenger could be carried by someone with no professional licence.
Licensed work has widened since. In May 2022 the itTaxi consortium, which calls itself the largest national project in the taxi sector, signed a partnership with Uber so that taxi drivers could receive Uber trips in the itTaxi app. Corriere della Sera reported that the deal let Uber users book ordinary taxis in some Italian cities, and that taking it from Rome to Milan split the trade. Some drivers wanted the extra bookings. Others left the consortium.
On 15 July 2026 Uber opened Uber Comfort in all 20 regions. Corriere said the trips are professional NCC work, and that Uber put the fares at up to 30% below Uber Black. A Corriere trial from Trastevere to Roma Termini came out at a little over €9, less than a traditional taxi. Davide Archetti, Uber's general manager for southern Europe, said professional-driver trips could become a practical choice for many more everyday journeys, and a source of new work for drivers and partner fleets.
UberX reached Calabria on 30 June 2026, the first region in Italy to get it. Corriere della Calabria reported an immediate start in Catanzaro and at Lamezia Terme airport, then Cosenza by 15 July and Reggio Calabria by 15 August. Regional president Roberto Occhiuto said UberX was not available in Rome. Archetti, speaking as Uber's general manager for Italy, called the Calabria service a pilot and spoke of professional operators.
Strikes, fares and unfinished rules
Taxi drivers have fought app-based competition before. Reuters reported the sixth day of a national strike on 21 February 2017. Drivers protested in major cities, blocked central Rome and burned flares. They wanted action on chauffeured limousines and on Uber.
Paolo Ricci, a taxi driver outside the prime minister's office, told Reuters: "We don't mind competition, but there isn't a level playing field. These companies don't have the same constraints as us." He said taxis are a public service, with fixed fares and fixed shifts, and must take any customer, "even if it is only a short ride that makes no money." Transport minister Graziano Delrio, who was due to meet union leaders that day, said: "Let's work together, but without any violence and threats."
The dispute was back in the street on Tuesday 13 January 2026. Corriere della Sera put the number of unions behind a national strike at about 20, and reported a stop until 22:00, with Umbria the exception. A union note quoted by Il Sole 24 Ore said participation was "almost total" and that the service was "practically at a standstill". The unions asked for settled rules for operators and digital platforms, and for a user price that was "certain and controlled", "not at the mercy of algorithms owned by multinationals".
Nicola Di Giacobbe, coordinator of Unica Taxi Filt Cgil, said the taxi licence is the livelihood of the drivers in the square, and that they would fight to the end if its value and use were put in question. He said passengers should have a public service, "not an algorithm managed by multinationals that decides rates and cars".
Uiltrasporti said the category has been waiting since 2019 for talks to reopen on the implementing decrees. Il Sole 24 Ore reported that a government decree on digital platforms for non-scheduled services, including Uber, had been paused after comments from the European Commission, and that the strike organisers say platforms are working without settled rules. Matteo Salvini, the transport minister, said he had summoned the taxi unions to the ministry for the afternoon of 14 January.
URI, the Unione Radiotaxi d'Italia, and the itTaxi consortium did not join the 13 January strike. Corriere della Sera reported that split.
For drivers and NCC operators, the practical point of the October plan is demand from North American visitors, passed through a marketplace Lyft has not named in Rome. Unlicensed private-driver work remains closed. Freenow by Lyft is the app Lyft already operates in Italian cities, and Lyft says drivers on Freenow and Gett pick up the visitor trips. The company has still not said that the car which arrives for a Lyft booking in Rome will be one of theirs.