U.S. ride-hailing firm Lyft has secured a permit to test autonomous vehicles in California, taking it one step further in the race with several other companies to bring self-driving cars to the masses.

Lyft's permit, reflected on the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) website, comes two months after it announced plans to offer a self-driving car as a ride option in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Lyft already has partnerships in place with autonomous car companies to advance its self-driving strategy.

The firm struck a research collaboration earlier this year with Alphabet unit Waymo. It has also secured deals with Ford Motor Co and startup Nutonomy to incorporate self-driving cars in its fleet.

Lyft's chief rival Uber secured the California permit to test self-driving cars in March. Apple Inc, Samsung Electronics, Tesla Inc and a host of automakers also have the permit. 

Meanwhile, the Uber rival also is raising an additional $500 million in funding, according to a U.S. share authorization document filed in Delaware, news website Axios said.

The additional funding round, led by Alphabet Inc’s CapitalG, is an extension of the $1 billion round announced in October.

Lyft spokesman Adrian Durbin, confirming the funding round, in an e-mailed statement said, “Increasing the potential for this round will allow us to further accelerate our commitment to serving passengers and drivers.”

In October Lyft had said that the previous round of funding boosted its valuation to $11 billion from $7.5 billion. The fresh funding would raise its valuation to $11.5 billion.