Lyft has added Waymo robotaxis to its Nashville app while staffing a local depot largely with former drivers who clean and stage the vehicles.
WIRED reports riders may be matched with a driverless Waymo through Lyft (Waymo’s own app already ran there). Exec Jeremy Bird frames a long hybrid network of humans and AVs. Of 72 people at the provisional Nashville depot, half are ex-Lyft drivers; a larger purpose-built site is due in October. Flexdrive’s wider US workforce is about 35% former drivers. The piece notes AV support jobs may not replace driving roles one-for-one; Waymo has talked of training funds in other cities. Former driver Jonathan Baines now leads fleet ops and even dreams of owning an AV later.