Adams said New York City is committed to making the city healthier and more sustainable, and one way to do that is to electrify the big companies’ vehicles. The plan is designed to help alleviate some of the costs for New York City’s taxi drivers and “will not impose new fees on individual drivers.

Both Uber and Lyft are willing to accept this policy, as both companies are committed to the long-term goal of moving to electrification by the end of 2030.

In addition, Adams said New York City residents should try driving electric cars, and they plan to support more electric cars with plans to build more electric vehicle charging infrastructure in all five boroughs.

Image Source Pexels

“We are excited to partner with New York City on our journey,” said Paul Augustine, Lyft’s director of sustainability, “New York’s commitment will accelerate an equitable citywide transition to electric vehicles, and we are eager to work with TLC to develop an ambitious plan to achieve clean mileage standards.”

“We applaud the mayor’s ambition to reduce emissions, which is an important goal we share,” said Josh Gold, senior director of policy at Uber, in a statement, “Uber has been making real progress to become the first zero-emissions mobility platform in North America, and there is still much work to be done. “

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Riders in Austin will have the option to choose a driverless commute directly from the Lyft app for the same price as a regular Lyft ride, the company said in a blog post-Thursday. The app will enable customers to unlock the vehicle’s doors, start a ride and contact customer support. It may seem odd at first, especially since there will actually be two people in the driver and passenger seats monitoring the ride for safety reasons.

The plan is likely to have reached a crescendo since top rival Cruise revealed plans to launch its own driverless ride-hailing service in Austin by the end of the year. Cruise is also looking to launch service in Phoenix, Arizona, where Waymo has built a driverless robo-taxi and delivery business as it struggles to scale revenue. Lyft and Argo have largely avoided Cruise’s home base of San Francisco, where other competitors such as Waymo and Zoox have concentrated their operations, and where Cruise launched a fully driverless commercial ride-hailing service this summer. Instead, the companies have set their sights on other U.S. cities with less competition and more favorable regulatory environments.

Last month, Motional, an AV joint venture between Lyft and Aptiv-Hyundai, also launched a fleet of all-electric Ioniq 5s for its driverless cab business in Las Vegas. In addition, Argo is actively testing in seven cities around the world, including Palo Alto, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., and Hamburg, Germany.

The companies have not yet disclosed when they will operate in Austin, but an Argo spokeswoman said its fleet of an unspecified number of Ford Escape hybrids will operate during daylight hours. Argo and Lyft also would not elaborate on when they expect to eliminate safety drivers from commercial operations in Miami or Austin, but Argo has been testing in both cities since May completely driverless operations.

A Lyft spokeswoman said the elimination of supervisors will depend on safety performance data, appropriate community acceptance and the regulatory environment.

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