Lyft on Monday launched Teen Account, a product that allows minors as young as 13 to take rides without an adult, in 200 U.S. cities including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago and New York.
The official launch comes two weeks after Lyft CEO David Risher announced plans to open X’s ride-hailing service to teenagers.
Like rival Uber, which also offers teen accounts, the new Lyft service comes with a number of guardrails. According to Lyft, only a parent or guardian can create an account for a teen. Drivers matching these minor passengers must meet additional criteria and pass an annual background check. Lyft says teens can bring guests with them if their parents have permission.
Lyft also includes features like PIN authentication, voice recording, and real-time tracking to help parents see where their teens are during rides. Parents who want to sign up their teenagers can go to the app, select their profile in the bottom right corner of the screen, and tap “Lyft Teen.” From here, parents can enter their youth’s contact information and add a common payment method to cover their youth’s rides. Once verified, your teen will receive a text message with a unique sign-up link.
Lyft is catching up with Uber and Waymo, which offers teen accounts in its Phoenix robotaxi service area. Uber tested teen accounts in 2017, but won’t roll out the commercial product until spring 2024 in more than a dozen cities in the U.S. and Canada. Since then, Uber has added many other U.S. markets and dozens of other countries. Last year, Uber started testing teen accounts in several Indian cities as well.
Lyft’s new teen account is one of many new products and enhancements Risher has introduced to the company since becoming CEO. Lyft has several self-driving vehicle partnerships, including May Mobility, Austrian manufacturer Benteler, Holon, Tensor Auto, and self-driving provider Mobileye.
The company also expanded into Europe with the acquisition of German multi-mobility app Freenow from BMW and Mercedes-Benz Mobility for $197 million. With this acquisition, Lyft entered the European market for the first time.
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