Ford will work with the taxi service company Lyft to deploy autopilot vehicles

Ford Motor Co. (F.N.) said Wednesday that it will work with the taxi service company Lyft to deploy Ford's autopilot vehicles in Lyft's service network before 2021.

Ford and Lyft's team will begin collaborating to design software to enable Ford vehicles to communicate with Lyft smartphone applications.

Sherif Marakby, Ford's vice president for autopilot and electrification, told Reuters that the initial Ford autopilot test vehicle would be connected to the Lyft network, but customers would not be able to use the vehicles. Ford will deploy a manned vehicle on the Lyft service network.

He did not state when Ford and Lyft were expected to provide automatic driving vehicle services to customers for the first time.

Marakby said Ford plans to eventually put thousands of autopilot vehicles into use.