Lyft predicts self-driving cars to power business in five years

Ride-sharing firm Lyft has predicted that most of its cars will be driverless within the next five years, as the race to get ahead in the autonomous driving competition heats up.

President of the company John Zimmer said that sharing lifts would eventually be a standard way to travel, as well as being cheaper than owning a car.

In a blog post entitled "The Third Transportation Revolution", Zimmer outlined Uber's rival's plans for the next ten years and beyond.

"Within five years a fully autonomous fleet of cars will provide the majority of Lyft rides across the country," Zimmer wrote. "It will be both more practical and appealing to access autonomous vehicles when they are part of Lyft’s networked fleet."

Lyft recently announced a partnership with car manufacturer General Motors, at the same time as Uber teamed up with Volvo.

Zimmer also predicted a sharp decline in private car ownership in major US cities, as people are concluding that it is both simpler and cheaper to do without a car.

"Owning a car means monthly car payments, searching for parking, buying fuel, and dealing with repairs," Zimmer said.

"When networked autonomous vehicles come onto the scene, below the cost of car ownership, most city-dwellers will stop using a personal car altogether."

Lyft is one of several companies which are investing heavily in self-driving technology, with the likes of Tesla and Google particularly keen to advance it as soon as possible.