Lyft debuts teen accounts more than two years after Uber

CEO David Risher addressed Lyft’s delayed teen accounts rollout, saying the company “wanted to get it right” and is distinguishing itself with parent and driver communication tools.

“We’ve been really thoughtful as we’ve talked to parents and teens to come up with a product that meets what they both want,” he said.

The new program will match passengers between 13 and 17 with drivers, and includes safety features such as pin verification, real-time tracking and recordings. Risher said the drivers who can transport teens require a high star rating and cannot be blocked by a “significant” number of riders.

Bloomberg first reported the news that the company was working on the feature last month. Following the report, Risher confirmed on X that Lyft would launch teen accounts early this year in hundreds of cities nationwide.

Lyft rival Uber rolled out teen accounts nationwide in May 2023. Last year, Uber said it had expanded the offering to more than 50 countries.

Last year, it bought European taxi app Freenow for about $200 million and acquired a global chauffeuring service.

But Lyft is also facing massive competition as ridesharing adds more and more driverless rides.

So far, Alphabet-backed Waymo, which started its own teen accounts last summer, has led the charge in the U.S. with operations in major markets such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix.

CNBC reported in December that Waymo surpassed 450,000 paid rides and the cars are testing in New York City with a human in the driver’s seat.

Uber has teamed up with Waymo and signed a six-year robotaxi deal with Lucid and autonomous vehicle startup Nuro in July. Tesla launched a robotaxi pilot in Austin last year and recently began testing drives without a human safety monitor, CEO Elon Musk said on X.

Lyft has previously partnered with Mobileye and is working with Tensor Robocar, powered by Nvidia technology, with plans to launch services in 2027. The company will also roll out Waymo rides in Nashville this year.

“Our goal is to be, is to create the best possible trends for riders and, frankly, the lowest cost way for AV tech to be deployed on the platform,” Risher said of Lyft’s strategy.

Risher thinks Lyft is in an “awesome” position to address future autonomous vehicle demand but said adoption is in the early stage and there are many regulatory and tech hurdles remaining.

He said it would be “quite extraordinary” if autonomous rides accounted for 10% of Lyft’s business by 2030.