Self driving division is spinning in circles - Senior Software Development Engineer Lyft Employee Review

1.0
15 Apr 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Opportunity to work on cutting edge technologies.

Cons

There has been way too much industry hype about self driving cars couple years back when Lyft started Level 5 division. Unfortunately, as we all know now, reality doesn't match expectation for this industry. Have you noticed there is no company who has yet to roll out a rider ready AV car without a backup safety driver? The management team (directors and above) are almost entirely made up of men who have no domain expertise in autonomous vehicles, machine learning or robotics. They are buddies from their previous companies who failed to define and communicate any vision for the self-driving division. The Level 5 management team lacks technical understanding and sets unrealistic deadlines on vaguely-defined milestones. Sadly, the narrative about our strategy changes every 3 months so if you are less luck, most of engineers' work become throwaway work. Teams are running around in a circle, working on nebulous and technically unattainable projects that resemble pyramid schemes. We have a hard time hiring good people because all the competent folks are going to the AV leaders (Waymo, Tesla etc) who are actually ran and started by domain experts in self-driving. The stress level is very high in some groups due to the realistic deadlines and pressure.

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5.0
9 Feb 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Work anytime you want. Meet new people. Learn your City and events/ night life. Listen to your music. Good perks provided by LYFT

Cons

Self employed No benefits Vehicle maintenance/ adds lots of miles, wear and tear

2.0
30 Mar 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Discovering parts of Las Vegas I wouldn't normally visit. Meeting nice people from all over the Valley and the world.

Cons

With the price of gas right now, my pay for using a mid-sized vehicle averaged out to $8 per hour (before taxes), even after 3 "bonuses." This is less than the Nevada minimum wage of $12. Regardless of what the app tells you, Lyft takes about 2/3 of the earnings for each ride, charging both for the rental and extra fees they claim have to do with the cost of car maintenance. Not sure why maintenance and everyday wear wouldn't be handled by Hertz as a normal part of their fleet ownership, as it would with any other rental. Indeed, if you're doing the Express Driver program, you have to take the car for service after getting a voucher from Hertz. On a different note, the number of riders with no picture or fake names is really high in Las Vegas compared to other places where I've driven. This issue has become a safety concern.

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