By Akash Sriram
Nov 5 (Reuters) - Lyft plans to "significantly grow" its Waymo robotaxi fleet in Nashville by year-end, the company said on Thursday, stepping up efforts to earn more from self-driving cars by both managing fleets and matching riders to them.
The company is paid in two ways in Nashville: through Waymo rides booked on its app, and through a fee for each available vehicle it maintains, charges and cleans, CFO Michael Brous told Reuters.
"We get paid when those vehicles are out of the depot, so per available car," Brous said.
Airport rides on Waymo autonomous vehicles are also "coming soon," according to the company.
Lyft's Flexdrive unit has serviced the Nashville fleet since June, while Lyft opened an 80,000-square-foot depot in the city in October. Waymo is Alphabet's self-driving unit.
Brous was upbeat about the Nashville partnership but declined to give fleet size or utilization figures, two common measures of a robotaxi service's progress.
"Early indications are we're doing a good job, as evidenced by expanding the service area, growing the fleet, opening up airport rides, and then we'll take it from there," Brous said.
Brous also said robotaxis would take "a long time" to scale meaningfully, citing hardware, regulation, operational challenges and a broader backlash against AI over data centers and job losses.
Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana told Bloomberg News on Wednesday that the company would end its exclusivity agreement with Uber in Austin and Atlanta from January 2028.
Meanwhile, Lyft's adjusted core profit rose 47% from a year earlier to $203.9 million in the third quarter, beating analysts' estimates of $194 million, according to LSEG data. Its forecasts for fourth-quarter gross bookings and adjusted core profit were broadly in line with Wall Street estimates.
(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Ananda)