Lyft opens up its ride-hailing app to teens | TechCrunch

Lyft on Monday launched Teen Accounts, a product that allows minors as young as 13 to hitch a ride without an adult in 200 US cities, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago and New York.

The official launch comes two weeks after Lyft CEO David Risher announced X’s plans to open up the service to reach teenagers.

Like its rival Uber, which also offers accounts for teenagers, Lyft’s new service comes with a number of red flags. According to Lyft, only a parent or guardian can create a teen account. Drivers who match these minor passengers must meet additional criteria and undergo annual background checks. Teens can also bring guests along for the ride if a parent has given permission, according to Lyft.

Lyft has also improved features like PIN verification, audio recording and real-time tracking so parents can see where their teen is during the ride. Parents who want to sign their teen up can go to the app, select their profile in the lower right corner of the screen, then tap “Lyft Teen.” From there, parents can enter the teen’s contact information and add a shared payment method to cover the teen’s rides. Once confirmed, the teen will receive a text message with a unique login link.

Lyft is trying to catch up with Uber and even Waymo, which offers teen accounts in its Phoenix robotaxi service area. Uber tested accounts for teenagers as early as 2017, but didn’t launch a commercial product until spring 2024 in more than a dozen cities in the US and Canada. Uber has since added a number of other US markets as well as dozens of other countries. Last year, Uber also started testing accounts for teenagers in several cities in India.

Lyft’s new teen account is one of many new products and expansions Risher has introduced at the company since becoming CEO. Lyft has established several autonomous vehicle partnerships, including May Mobility, Austrian manufacturer Benteler and Holon, Tensor Auto, and autonomy provider Mobileye.

The company also pushed into Europe with the acquisition of German multi-mobile app Freenow from BMW and Mercedes-Benz Mobility for $197 million. The acquisition opened the European market to Lyft for the first time.