Lyft, the biggest rival to Uber, is rumored to be launching in Canada before the end of this year. That is according to a report out of The Information. That publication has had a pretty stellar record when it comes to reports, since it launched a few years ago. So this is fairly likely to happen. This report also cites three people who are involved or briefed about the discussions within the company. Which also adds quite a bit of weight to this report from The Information.
The ride-sharing company hasn’t done much business outside of the US, in fact it has not expanded outside of the US since its launch back in 2012. The company had been focusing on expanding in the US, as it is still quite far behind Uber, as far as US markets is concerned. However, Lyft does have a bright future ahead, seeing as General Motors has heavily invested in the startup and is even using its Chevy Bolt EV’s for Lyft’s self-driving car program. The company is available in over 300 markets in the US, which is still a somewhat small number, surprisingly, but even if Lyft does expand into Canada this year, this won’t stop its growth in the US, seeing as it is Lyft’s home, it will continue to grow.
Lyft is the biggest competitor to Uber right now, who is having all sorts of issues in many different areas. It recently just got a new CEO, and is still in a heated battle with Waymo over supposedly stealing confidential LiDAR designs from the Alphabet-owned company. On top of that, the culture at Uber is also a big topic these days, and it has caused many boycotts and protests towards the company. And that has moved more people over towards using Lyft, which can sometimes be a bit cheaper, but with fewer drivers, wait times are a bit longer. Lyft does have many promotions going on to get more drivers on the road and driving full-time, so that should change. And it also helps the company grow. Now Lyft has not yet confirmed that it will be launching in Canada before the end of this year, although once it does say anything about Canada, it’ll likely be that it is now available in the country.