This is Lyft's first buyout in the self-driving world, although it's not clear if this will be the last. "We are always evaluating build versus buy," the company's autonomous driving lead Luc Vincent told TechCrunch. However, this and an earlier team-up with Magna show that Lyft is willing to seek outside help to get the ball rolling.

That includes the choice of cars. As part of its partnership with Ford, Lyft is introducing a Fusion Hybrid test car (above) that incorporates driverless technology. It's not certain where the machine will hit the road, but it will deploy "soon," according to Lyft. While this won't be the company's first test mule by any stretch, it should both expand Lyft's small autonomous fleet and add some variety to the testing process.