Senthil Padmanabhan Named CTO At Lyft

India-West News Desk

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Ride hailing company Lyft has appointed former eBay executive Senthil Padmanabhan as its new Chief Technology Officer, as the company looks to accelerate its artificial intelligence strategy and strengthen the technology platform underpinning its services.

Padmanabhan will join Lyft on July 20 and report directly to Chief Executive Officer David Risher.

The appointment comes as Lyft invests in AI to improve products for riders and drivers rather than focusing primarily on cost cutting. The company said Padmanabhan will oversee the engineering foundations that support Lyft’s products and future technology development.

Before joining Lyft, Padmanabhan served as Vice President of Engineering at eBay, where he was previously recognized as a Technical Fellow.

Lyft said it expects Padmanabhan’s experience in applying AI to large scale engineering operations to support faster product innovation and enhance the customer experience for both riders and drivers.

“Lyft has a clear purpose, a product millions of people love and rely on every day, and a team that genuinely cares about getting it right,” Padmanabhan said. “My job is to make sure the Lyft ceiling keeps rising using technology to multiply what we can achieve and unlock what wasn’t possible before.”

The new CTO holds a masters in software engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, and his undergraduate engineering degree from PSG College of Technology, Tamil Nadu.