Lyft Teams Up With Tensor Auto To Deploy Robotaxi Fleet Lyft has announced a new partnership with San Jose based Tensor Auto. The ride hailing giant says it has reserved hundreds of Tensor Robocars and will operate its own fleet of these autonomous vehicles. A key part of the deal is that Tensor will manufacture its Robocar to be Lyft ready directly from the factory. This integration is designed to enable a form of passive income for vehicle owners in areas that have achieved Level 4 regulatory approval. The companies explained that traditional car ownership often means a vehicle depreciates in value while sitting idle. They propose that the Tensor Robocar flips this model, transforming a personal luxury vehicle into a productive asset capable of generating income at all hours. This strategy mirrors the future plans of other automotive and tech companies. Tesla has its own unreleased robotaxi, the Cybercab. Similarly, Lyfts main competitor, Uber, announced a partnership in July for 20,000 electric vehicles from Lucid. Tensor is aiming to deliver its first Robocars by the end of 2026. The company states that the Lyft ready autonomous vehicle will be equipped with a massive sensor suite of over 100 individual units. This suite includes 37 cameras, five lidar sensors, and 11 radar units. To process all the data from these sensors, the vehicle will use eight NVIDIA chips based on the advanced Blackwell GPU architecture. Tensor claims the onboard computer is powerful enough to handle 8,000 trillion operations per second. This is not Lyfts first foray into autonomous vehicles. The company has multiple partnerships in the space. Just last month, Lyft teamed up with May Mobility to launch an autonomous fleet in Atlanta. It also has plans to connect users with Waymo robotaxi rides in Nashville starting next year. However, the Tensor partnership is significant as it marks the first time Lyft will purchase and operate its own fleet of autonomous vehicles, rather than just partnering with an operator. Tensor has its origins in the Chinese robotaxi firm AutoX. The company has since spun off, divesting and discontinuing its operations in China to focus entirely on its US based Tensor venture. Production of the Robocar will be handled in Vietnam through a manufacturing partnership with VinFast.
