Lyft says it will launch a fleet of robotaxis, using self-driving technology from Intel’s Mobileye, in Dallas in “as soon as 2026,” with plans to scale to ”thousands” of vehicles in additional markets in the months to follow. To signal its seriousness, the company tapped Marubeni, a Japanese conglomerate, to run fleet operations.

In the near future, the robotaxi segment could have a notable boom. Advances in the development of autonomous driving will enable the presence of these “driverless” cars on the streets, integrating with common traffic.

U.S. ride-hailing firm Lyft is planning to launch fully autonomous robotaxis, powered by Mobileye, to its app "as soon as 2026" in Dallas, TechCrunch reported on Monday. Shares of Lyft rose 6.9% in premarket trading following the report,