Lyft’s self-driving team called Level 5 has published its first ever Voluntary Safety Self-Assessment (VSSA) report (PDF), giving us a glimpse of how it plans to make sure that its autonomous vehicles are safe to use. The company says it’s applying what it has learned from its ride—hailing business to focus on the safety of vulnerable road users (VRUs), such as pedestrians, bicyclists and scooter riders.
Its priority, it says in its report, is to make sure its autonomous vehicles are unlikely to cause danger “in an environment amongst a growing number of vulnerable road users that are increasingly reliant on walking, biking and scooting in dense urban areas.” Lyft is also providing riders with 24/7 pre-ride and in-app support to earn their trust. It could mean the difference between success and failure, seeing as a lot of Americans still believe that autonomous vehicles aren’t ready for primetime yet.