Waymo opens Nashville rides, with Lyft set to run the fleet

Previously

In Parts 1 to 3, Waymo moved depot work to outside companies: Moove in Phoenix and Miami, which opened to public riders in January 2026, and Lyft's Flexdrive in Nashville. No partner has published fleet-performance data, and no deal terms were disclosed.

NASHVILLE, April 2026 — Waymo opened its driverless service to the public in Nashville on April 7, with Lyft's Flexdrive lined up to run the fleet behind it. Here's what changed since Part 3 (January 2026), what it cost, and what went wrong.

Cost and outcome (as of April 15, 2026)

Launch: rolling invitations across a 60-square-mile area; "dozens of vehicles," per a Waymo spokesperson. (TechCrunch)
Depot: an 80,000-square-foot facility due to open in the fall, Lyft said. (Lyft)
Jobs: more than 70 full-time roles in 2026; 50% of those filled so far went to current or former Lyft drivers, Lyft said. (Lyft)
Lyft app: not yet; Waymo said rides would come to Lyft "later this year." (Waymo)
Depot cost and deal terms: not disclosed.

What launched

Nashville is the 11th city where the public can hail a Waymo, TechCrunch reported. The service area covers Broadway, 12 South, Midtown and East Nashville, according to Waymo, which says it is testing at Nashville International Airport.

Waymo is inviting riders gradually to "thoughtfully scale while delivering a consistent, high-quality experience," spokesperson Chris Pappas told TechCrunch. He would not give an exact fleet count.

Riders hail through the Waymo app for now. TechCrunch contrasted this with Atlanta and Austin, where Waymos are offered only through Uber.

Who runs what

TechCrunch wrote that Lyft "has said it will handle fleet services, such as vehicle readiness and maintenance, charging infrastructure, and depot operations," through Flexdrive. Waymo's launch post said Lyft "will also serve as our fleet management partner in Nashville." TechCrunch listed Waymo's other fleet partners: Avis in Dallas, and Moove in Phoenix, which is expected to do the same in London. The partnerships, TechCrunch wrote, "signal Waymo's desire to be a technology supplier, not an operator."

Lyft's depot claims

In an April 15 post, Flexdrive CEO John Parks said construction was "well underway" on its largest autonomous-vehicle facility to date, with charging "capable of supporting hundreds of autonomous vehicles." Smaller charging sites around the service area would follow, it said. Flexdrive says it opened its first fleet facility in Atlanta in 2016 and now runs 24 sites managing roughly 15,000 vehicles across North America.

"Nashville isn't where we're learning how to do this," the post says. "Nashville is where we're proving what we already know how to do." Those are Lyft's claims; no uptime or turnaround figures were published.

On jobs, Lyft says it is hiring technicians, operations managers, fleet coordinators and maintenance specialists, and that half of the roles filled so far went to current or former Lyft drivers. Its first Nashville hire, named only as Jonathan, had driven on Lyft for more than 10 years and is now an operations lead, the post says. More than a third of Flexdrive's national workforce have been rideshare drivers, according to Lyft. Current and former Lyft drivers get interview priority.

The hiring pitch matters because Lyft is also the company whose human drivers compete with the robotaxis. Lyft says drivers "will continue to earn on the Lyft platform." It has not said how many driver trips the Waymo fleet might replace.

What officials said

"By leveraging private sector technologies like Waymo's fully autonomous vehicles, we're expanding mobility in ways we couldn't achieve on our own," Gov. Bill Lee said in Waymo's post. Waymo cites data from "over 170 million miles" showing a 13-fold reduction in serious-injury crashes against human drivers. Those are Waymo's figures.

What went wrong

No depot yet. At launch, Flexdrive's purpose-built facility was still under construction, due in the fall.
Small fleet. "Dozens of vehicles" is the only count given.
Lyft matching delayed. The two-app model announced in 2025 had not started.
What we don't know yet: what Waymo pays Lyft, how the depot performs, and how robotaxi rides split with Lyft's human drivers.

Our follow-up question for Lyft

Once the depot opens, will Flexdrive publish vehicle uptime or turnaround figures for the Waymo fleet?

Later developments (added Oct. 2026)

On Sept. 9, 2026, Lyft said Nashville riders could be matched with Waymos in the Lyft app at no extra cost, the first market where Waymos run on both apps. Riders can opt out. The two companies dispatch "a single fleet dynamically across both networks." (Lyft IR)
On Oct. 2, 2026, Flexdrive said it "took on day-to-day fleet operations for Waymo vehicles" shortly before Lyft-app matching began. It cut the ribbon on the 80,000-square-foot depot and said Waymo vehicles would move in on Oct. 12. (Lyft)

Sources

TechCrunch, Kirsten Korosec, “Waymo opens robotaxi service in Nashville, partners with Lyft,” April 7, 2026. techcrunch.com
Waymo, “Your Waymo ride, now arriving in Nashville,” April 2026. waymo.com
Lyft blog, John Parks, “Flexdrive by Lyft's Next Era of AV Fleet Management Starts in Nashville,” April 15, 2026. lyft.com
Lyft, “Waymo Rides Now Available on the Lyft App in Nashville,” Sept. 9, 2026. investor.lyft.com
Lyft blog, John Parks, “Flexdrive by Lyft shifts into higher gear with new 80,000-square-foot Nashville AV Depot,” Oct. 2, 2026. lyft.com

Disclosure: [not in copy] Editor placeholder