Lyft has been teasing its self-driving car aspirations for so long that you half expect them to pull a rabbit out of a hat. After eight long years of claiming that autonomous rides were on the verge of becoming a reality, Lyft is back with another bold proclamation: self-driving cars will reportedly hit the streets next year. But hold your horses, this magic trick will only happen in Dallas. Yes, you heard that right. Dallas.

You might think rideshare companies would have replaced their human drivers with autonomous vehicles by now, but, surprise, that hasn’t happened yet. Meanwhile, Uber dipped its toes into the self-driving pool back in 2016, only to see its dreams sink faster than a rusty anchor after some not-so-great publicity concerning stolen tech beauties from Waymo.

Now, Lyft is finally getting into the robotaxi game, ready to roll out their fleet of tiny, wheeled computers known as “driverless robotaxis” in 2026. But before you start packing your bags for a quick comparison of Dallas barbecues versus Bay Area burritos, let’s remember that this company has the self-driving chops of a sloth on Valium.

The truth is that while Lyft’s vision looks plausible on paper, actual self-driving tech is still, well, a prototype. Lyft’s strategy consists of leasing out their user base to other companies that have a handle on the tech, like Mobileye, which specializes in autonomous driving technologies. Because, you know, inventing your own tech is so last season.

The announcement comes as Lyft links up with Japanese conglomerate Marubeni, who will provide the cars and kitchens for this endeavor. Just a friendly reminder that Marubeni isn’t even a self-driving company; they’re more on the management side of things. So as exciting as it sounds, the whole self-driving dream is still very much being pieced together by people who are incredibly far from being drivers themselves.

They’ve even created an autonomous vehicles page that sounds like it was written by a team of caffeinated copywriters on a vague mission statement trip, full of phrases like “The future of transportation is in your pocket,” but with nothing concrete to back it up.

And if you think this announcement is set in stone, remember that last year Lyft hinted they’d be running drivers in Atlanta before 2025 came to a close. Spoiler alert: that didn’t pan out, and now we’re left wondering if this latest plan will endure or join the growing pile of forgotten promises.

So, while we’re all waiting for the dream of self-driving Uber and Lyft rides to materialize, we’ll have to content ourselves with their latest update, filled with all the excitement of waiting for water to boil. The future is coming, just not to San Francisco, get ready, Dallas! Maybe next year, they’ll throw us a bone and work on a Bay Area rollout. But until then, enjoy your ride. This is going to be a bumpy one.