Majority of rides will be in self-driving cars by 2021, says Lyft President John Zimmer

Lyft President and co-founder John Zimmer launched a 14-page document today in which he predicts that from 2021, “a majority” of trips on its network will be in self-driving vehicles. Likewise by 2025, Zimmer states personal car ownership in United States cities will be a past memory.

The end of vehicle ownership will alter cities in substantial ways, he stated, echoing those professionals and academics that forecast streets and parking lots will be changed into real estate and open spaces with the mass adoption of self-driving cars. It will likewise change the everyday experience of riding in a vehicle, he stated.

Zimmer published his manifesto, entitled “The Third Transportation Revolution: Lyft’s Vision for the Next Ten Years and Beyond,” on Medium on Sunday, but supplied an early copy to The Brink. In an interview, Zimmer painted a fantastical vision of the future, in which driverless automobiles unexpectedly end up being de facto workplaces and clubs.

“If you think of yourself as the customer, I can offer you 10 various vehicle types on the Lyft platform,” he said. “They all have incredible Virgin America cabins-slash-beautiful hospitality experience inside. There’s the private version if you want to do work on your ride, there’s the sleeper car if you wish to sleep, there’s the home entertainment car if your family and friends wish to view motion pictures, there’s the bar vehicle to have a good time with other individuals on your ride house.”

He added, “We’re going to offer all that, and you never ever have to handle parking, maintenance, cleaning, etc. Or you can own a private automobile.”