Ride-hailing platform Lyft partners with Bee Maps, powered by Solana-based DePIN Hivemapper, to access decentralized data

Bee Maps, a decentralized mapping platform powered by the Solana-based DePIN Hivemapper, has added ride-hailing giant Lyft as a customer. 

Launched in 2024 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Hivemapper Inc., Bee Maps provides data collected by a global network of drivers equipped with AI-powered dashcams. Contributors earn HONEY tokens, the native cryptocurrency of the Hivemapper network, for mapping data, following a model that uses blockchain incentives to build and maintain real-world infrastructure.

The partnership began in early 2024 but was not publicly announced until Wednesday, and involves close collaboration between Bee Maps and Lyft's map engineering teams across the U.S. and Europe. By integrating Bee Maps' high-resolution, real-time street-level data, Lyft aims to enhance the accuracy of its navigation systems as it scales its rideshare services and gears up for an autonomous vehicle launch.

"Lyft recognized that old-school mapping couldn't keep up with the real world," Bee Maps co-founder and CEO Ariel Seidman said in a statement. "For mobility to work and for autonomy to become reality, maps can't be an afterthought — they need to be crowdsourced, live, accurate, and open. We're proud to arm a true innovator like Lyft with the constantly updated street-level spatial intelligence that enables their vision."