Easing the process: The service will ensure that patients taking part will arrive and leave on time for clinical trials.
Lyft already provides transportation services for patients at certain US hospitals seeking non-urgent treatment, but this new service is a first-of-its-kind partnership and one, according to both companies, that could conceivably solve one of the biggest problems related to conducting and maintaining clinical trials: access to transport.
"We believe that this service will make enrolling and staying in a study easier, especially for those patients with limited resources and access to transportation," said Nariman Nasser, vice president of site optimisation at Continuum Clinical.
The first trial that will test the new partnership will be conducted within the next two months and will be focused on a national study for lupus.
The combination of a mobility service with a digital, automated scheduling element will ensure that patients taking part will arrive and leave on time, however intense or dispersed the trial.
"Through our partnership with Continuum Clinical, we're able to provide patients with safe, affordable and reliable rides," said Gyre Renwick, head of enterprise healthcare partnerships at Lyft. "We look forward to working with Continuum to help the community get around more efficiently."
Since forming a partnership with GM at the start of 2016, Lyft has moved quickly beyond the traditional sphere of ride hailing and sharing in an attempt to establish itself as a true mobility company.
GM's ultimate aim for its investment in the company is the creation of an on-demand autonomous vehicle fleet that can meet the needs of future ultra-urban dwellers.
However as cars move from being a form of individual mobility to a means of autonomous transportation, they are going to become a space for people to relax, to work or to entertain, and a host of traditional auto makers, from Mercedes to Hyundai, are already examining how this new space can be use to monitor, alter and improve occupants' well-being and health levels. — AFP Relaxnews
