A private vehicle service called Lyft allows users to track their drivers in real-time on a smartphone map while also booking private car journeys. It announced that it would provide an AA payment feature in November 2014. Users can share the cost of a taxi ride with friends from their mobile phone address book by opening the taxi app and selecting the "Share Fare" button. Currently, you can split the cost with up to five friends. The U.S. ride-hailing service Lyft stated in March 2015 that user profiles would be added to the app to address concerns of trust between drivers and passengers and to enhance service security.

After two strangers ride in a car together, Lyft gives them the option to rate each other. If both parties give each other positive ratings, then both parties can see the ratings given to each other, giving both parties a chance to stay in touch. In May 2015, the American ride-hailing app Uber launched a test of two new social features in San Francisco. Carlos Whitt, Austen Broyles, and Jisi Guo, the co-founders of the instant messaging service Leo, joined Lyft to work on it in June 2015. Lyft then acquired and employed the crew from Leo. Lyft announced in May 2016 that it would trial its 24-hour advance booking service in San Francisco.

A "temporary change of destination" feature will be added to the Lyft app in August 2016. Users will be able to add additional stops from the app on their route to a ride thanks to this innovation. A new developer app that Lyft released in March 2017 lets users "hail" a cab for someone who doesn't have the Lyft app or even a smartphone while still processing payments, sending push alerts, and collecting customer feedback. The program will be a part of an open API that was introduced the previous year.

Then Lyft, the second-largest ride-hailing app in the U.S., announced its foray into the driverless industry in November 2017. After a brief hiatus, they were given approval by the state of California to test their driverless vehicles on public roads in California. To make it simpler for those who are blind or partially sighted to access services, the ride-hailing app Lyft and Aira formed a partnership in December 2017. Its fixed-route commuter cars will start running in Palo Alto in the Bay Area in the middle of 2018. Operations will be feasible at night and during inclement weather by 2019. 500 autonomous vehicles will be in use by 2020, with riders paying for rides and "safety drivers" who will take over in an emergency.