Lyft Inc. just nudged itself into the future after picking up passengers in Boston in one of its autonomous vehicles.

Alas, human drivers were there for safety precautions, but the move puts Lyft on the self-driving map along with its major rival, Uber Technologies Inc. The car was developed by the startup NuTonomy, which together with Lyft has promised to fill the streets with thousands of self-driving cars in the coming months. Lyft has chosen not to develop its own autonomous vehicle, and instead has opted to break bread with a number of partners.

“We are not disclosing the details of the work we are doing with each partner,” an Uber spokesperson said in June. “Overall, we’re partnering with leaders in this space who share a vision of solving transportation issues and positively impact the future of our cities.”

One of those partners is NuTonomy, a startup straight out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that was acquired by the U.K.’s Delphi Automotive for $400 million earlier this year. The company has big ideas, vowing to launch a self-driving taxi service in Singapore next year. Lyft said that although the tests right now are limited, next year will be a different matter and the autonomous taxi will become a sight seen more often.

On the other hand, the cars at the moment are only driving around Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park in Boston, which couldn’t be said to emulate busy, modern city streets.

“Our partnership with Lyft has two goals,” NuTonomy wrote in a blog post. “First, we want to let members of the public experience driverless vehicles firsthand, so they can better understand the impact this new technology will have on their lives. Second, based on feedback from pilot participants, NuTonomy’s engineers will adapt and improve our system, so that we can deliver an autonomous transportation experience that is extremely safe, efficient, and comfortable.”

The company has already established partnerships with Ford Motor Co., Renault SA and Google LLC owner Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo. Although the startup has its fingers in a lot of pies, the deal with Lyft is particularly good as the technology already has a fleet of willing testers.

Lyft has been, and still is, riding on the heels of Uber. The latter has been involved in too many controversies of late to recount, and reports suggest Lyft has made some gains as Uber claws its way out of the dirt. Uber’s self-driving arm has not escaped being dragged into the mud either, having been accused of stealing secrets from Waymo and recently pulling its autonomous vehicles off the streets after “high-impact” crashes.

Image: nutonomy.com