The Waymo-Lyft alliance could shift the competition for a robotic taxi service into high gear; A science fiction fantasy of driverless cabs feels closer

Last year, passengers took over 162 million rides with ride-hailing service Lyft, all of which were steered by human drivers. But in the near future, that may change. On Sunday, news broke that Lyft had struck a deal with Waymo, the Alphabet-owned self-driving car company. The deal dials up the competition between Uber and Lyft, experts say, setting up what could be an autonomous driving "battle royale." While there is little information available about the partnership, each company stands to get something valuable from the other, potentially making the concept of a ride-hailing service with a fleet of self-driving cars...