Image Credit: Holon
Ride-hailing giant Lyft is broadening its offering with a fleet of autonomous shuttles.
The partnership will see Lyft deploy autonomous buses from Benteler Mobility, under the Holon brand, across the U.S. as early as next year. Lyft’s network of more than 44 million annual riders will be able to book a self-driving shuttle ride directly through its ride-hailing platform.
The deal was sealed shortly after the European AV Summit 2025 heard from Lyft’s VP of Autonomous, Fleets, and Driver Operations Stephen Hayes on the reliability of U.S. public transport compared to Europe.
“We have much more patchwork public transit that’s not nearly as reliable,” Stephen told the audience at the London summit. “Lyft plays an indispensable role in the States because our public transit system is not nearly as ubiquitous. And so we have many transit-focused partnerships that help riders if they get stranded, or if the next bus is 30 minutes away and it’s late at night.
“When it comes to the autonomous transition, we are incredibly excited for more and more autonomous vehicles to enter the marketplace. We think we are in the very early stages of commercialisation of AVs.”
The Holon shuttles will initially be deployed in partnership with U.S. cities and airports with the potential to expand to “thousands of vehicles” across the globe.
Equipped with Mobileye’s autonomous technology, the buses will accommodate up to nine seated and six standing passengers, have inward-facing seats, and come without a steering wheel or pedals.
The partnership deepens Lyft’s integration into the AV sector. This summer, the ride-hailing giant will launch with autonomous driving technology company May Mobility in Atlanta. Lyft also has planned partnerships with Mobileye, Marubeni and Nexar. Meanwhile, rival Uber continues to build its own autonomous vehicle portfolio, with Baidu, Pony AI, Waymo, Wave, and WeRide amongst its latest partners
