Waymo will buy 20 thousand electric cars Jaguar I-Pace for unmanned taxi
In the autumn Waymo for the first time brought to the public roads an autonomous car without a "safety" driver behind the wheel, and in 2020 it is planned to launch a commercial service of an unmanned taxi. In order to create its own fleet of vehicles, the company signed a contract with the British Jaguar Land Rover to supply 20,000 electric cars Jaguar I-Pace for two years.
All inclusive
Cars for Waymo will be produced with built-in hardware for autopilot operation. A serial version of the Jaguar I-Pace was presented at the Geneva Motor Show this year. The electric crossover accelerates from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in 4.8 seconds and is able to travel on one charge up to 480 kilometers. Taking into account the starting price of $ 69,500, the deal between the former division of Google and Jaguar can be valued at more than $ 1 billion.
The first tests of prototypes Jaguar I-Pace with the system of autopilot Waymo will begin at the end of this year.
What now?
Several years in a row, Waymo bought cars from Fiat Chrysler. The park already has 600 minivans of Chrysler Pacifica, which are gradually replacing the self-controlled Lexus RX SUVs. Prior to this, the team also abandoned the lovely Firefly robots of its own production.
In Arizona, the company's fully autonomous prototypes are used to transport ordinary passengers participating in the Early Rider program. Recently in this state, Uber Uber killed a pedestrian to death . According to the head of Waymo John Krawczyk, their system could cope with this situation and avoid a lethal accident.
By the way, General Motors can outstrip Waymo and launch its unmanned taxi service in 2019.