Lyft CEO: Robotaxis are ‘one of the biggest gifts I could have gotten as a CEO in my life’

Lyft (LYFT) CEO David Risher says Wall Street is too focused on the threat of disruption and that robotaxis and self-driving cars could end up being the best thing to happen to his company.

“My contention is that AI or self-driving cars are one of the biggest gifts I could have gotten as a CEO in my life, because it is going to be a massive dislocation,” Risher said in an interview with Yahoo Finance. “It’s going to be a huge tailwind for the industry because people love the product and it has a good cost structure.”

His comments came after Lyft posted a surprise third quarter loss, though it was a one-time item. The company reported a net loss of $9.7 million, which included a $117.9 million hit from legal, tax, and regulatory reserve changes and settlements. Revenue rose 8% to $1.8 billion but fell short of the $1.92 billion analysts expected. 

Underneath the headline numbers, the business was strong. Gross bookings climbed 17% to a record $5.6 billion, and adjusted EBITDA jumped 47% to $203.9 million. Active riders rose 10% to a record 31.6 million, the eighth straight quarter of double-digit growth. Lyft also generated $1.1 billion in free cash flow over the past 12 months.

For the fourth quarter, Lyft expects gross bookings of $5.74 billion to $5.94 billion, in line with Wall Street estimates. Earlier this week, Uber (UBER) reported upbeat results, though its profit forecast missed expectations.

“That’s a very strong business. That’s a very, very strong core,” Risher said on Lyft’s results. As for what investors are missing, he said they “see uncertainty,” while he sees “quarter after quarter after quarter of performance and a really great position for the future.”

Lyft calls itself a “hybrid operator,” meaning it combines human drivers with autonomous vehicle partners. Waymo robotaxi rides are now available on the Lyft app in Nashville. Risher said adoption will vary city by city, depending on weather, policy, and local regulations.

“The way I think about it is if by 2030, if it’s 10% of our business, that would be an enormous, enormous accomplishment,” he said. Lyft is on track for about 1 billion rides this year, so that would mean roughly 100 million autonomous rides. “But there’s a lot that has to happen between the technology, the policy and all the rest for that really to take root.”

Turning to the here and now, despite signs of economic stress on the lower end, Risher said Lyft isn’t seeing riders cut back. The company set three all-time records over the Halloween weekend, for example.