Lyft announces sale of its self-driving car unit to Toyota
In a deal worth $550 million, ride sharing firm, Lyft announces sale of its self-driving car unit, Level 5 to Toyota’s subsidiary, Woven Planet. Holdings Inc. As per sources familiar with the matter, Lyft and Toyota, under the deal, will work collaboratively on enhancement of automated driving technology. The deal will reportedly initiate with a payout of $200 million followed by additional payments of $350 million over five years. John Zimmer, Co-founder and President, Lyft, cited that the pact would also help in pulling Lyft’s profitability timeline. The company expects that the transaction would save Lyft $100 million of annual non-GAAP operating expenses. Zimmer further added that Lyft is expecting profitability in Q3 on an adjusted EBITDA basis provided that the deal closes under the targeted timeline that is the third quarter and the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic continues. According to reliable sources, the self-driving division of Lyft will continue to operate in Palo Alt...