John Zimmer, the president and co-founder of Lyft, has shared his views on autonomous vehicles and the future of his company.
According to Zimmer, private car ownership would "all but end" throughout major US cities by 2025. He also believes that self-driving cars will dominate Lyft's network of cars by 2021.
According to Medium, Zimmer said that cars have long been hailed as "symbols of freedom and identity." However, he noted that the sentiment is not true for many people, especially millennials. Zimmer revealed that in the United States, car ownership costs about $9,000 per year. However, with the rise of ride-hailing services, the transportation segment may see a massive shift.
Lyft's competitor Uber is currently a forerunner in the US' autonomous vehicle segment. Last week, Uber offered self-driving car rides in Pittsburgh on a limited basis.
Lyft is collaborating with General Motors to develop self-driving cars. Zimmer expects Lyft's self-driving cars to be on the road within a few years.
According to Fortune, Zimmer's vision runs counter to the opinion of Tesla CEO Elon Musk. While Musk believes that autonomous vehicles will be owned by individuals, who may then lease them out to others, Zimmer thinks that Lyft will own and operate the autonomous vehicles.
In his blog post, Zimmer highlighted the fact that an average vehicle is used only four percent of the time. It remains idly parked for the remaining 96 percent of the time. He said that if most of such cars are taken off the road, it will result in "a world with less traffic and less pollution."