Ford is working to integrate its autonomous cars with Lyft's ride-hailing software so someday Ford can carry Lyft passengers.
The two companies will link their software in a partnership announced Wednesday.
At first human-driven cars from Ford will carry Lyft passengers.
The automaker plans to connect its self-driving test cars to Lyft's network.
But they won't carry passengers until they're fully tested.
The companies didn't give a time frame for integrating services.
Ford says it expects the Lyft partnership to accelerate its self-driving car efforts.
The company has said it wants to develop a fully driverless vehicle by 2021.
In July Lyft announced it would open its network to other companies for self-driving car research.
Lyft also has partnerships with Google's Waymo autonomous car unit and General Motors.