GM, LYFT TO DEBUT DRIVERLESS TAXIS; NEW PIZZA CHAIN OPENING IN FRISCO; GRAPEVINE-BASED SCHOOL OFFERS VIRTUAL INSTRUCTION

Every day, Dallas Innovates staffers scan websites looking for the most interesting, important, and unusual stories about innovation and creativity. Here are three we thought you’d like:

Would you mind being picked up and driven to your chosen destination by a driverless car? The Wall Street Journal reports that within a year, General Motors Co., which has an assembly plant in Arlington, and Lyft Inc. will begin testing a fleet of self-driving Chevrolet Bolt electric taxis. The exact location of the roll out has not been disclosed (could we suggest Dallas?) Here’s more about the new service.

There will soon be another option in the Dallas-Fort Worth area pizza market. Malawi’s Pizza is planning to expand to Texas with stores in Houston and one in Frisco. Customers can expect familiar pizza combinations with a twist of good will. Adhering to the pizza chain’s tagline, “Pizza with a Purpose,” the company will donate a meal to a child in Malawi, Africa, for every meal it sells inside its restaurants. Find out more about the chain and its new stores here.

Sometimes the typical public school schedule doesn’t work for a student. Enter iUniversity Prep, a full-time virtual school run by Grapevine-Colleyville ISD. Right now, the school has 440 students in grades four through 12, but it hopes to attract 50 to 100 more students by next school year. It might offer an example of education’s future, but with limits from the Texas Legislature on the enrollment process and the number of virtual school operators in the state don’t look for the education option to overtake traditional schools anytime soon. Read more about virtual schools here.

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