When James Cox, the former leader of Uber's ride-share product, UberPool, left that company in 2019, the Silicon Valley giant had abandoned its autonomous vehicle development and sold off the division entirely. While UberPool had struggled to take hold, Cox felt a massive opportunity had been missed: taking the core of UberPool's tech and applying it to robotaxis. For the last five years Cox has instead been running a small startup called The Routing Company, which helps transit agencies match riders with vehicles quickly and cheaply.
By integrating Baidu's cutting-edge autonomous driving technology with Lyft's platform reach and operational expertise, we're excited to deliver safer, greener, and more efficient mobility solutions to more users.