Lyft outlines self-driving car plans after earlier partnerships

Logan Green, co-founder and CEO of Lyft, a peer-to-peer ride sharing company, on May 3, 2016 in Santa Monica, Calif. Lyft has said it will develop its own autonomous driving technology and open a laboratory in Palo Alto. (Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

Ride-hailing provider Lyft Inc, emboldened by public stumbles by larger rival Uber Technologies Inc, is taking the leap into developing its own fully autonomous vehicles. 

Lyft is opening a self-driving vehicle development facility in Palo Alto, California, called “Level 5,” a nod to the designation of fully autonomous vehicles that don’t require human supervision. Several hundred employees will work there by the end of next year, the company said. Ten percent of its software engineers are working on autonomous vehicles now, Lyft said.