On Tuesday morning, Waymo revealed its newest partner for its planned automated taxi service: Jaguar. The two companies are working together to build a fleet of self-driving I-Paces, Jaguar’s new battery electric vehicles (BEV), which will go on sale later this year. These vehicles will begin testing this year and enter Waymo's fleet in 2020. This is a very important order-Waymo CEO John Kravsick said that as many as 20,000 self-driving I-Paces will be built in the first two years.
Equally important, the integration of Waymo's sensors and autonomous driving technology will be built into these I-Paces at the Graz plant in Austria. Waymo’s current Pacifica Hybrid minivan was delivered by Chrysler and later modified by Waymo, but as it and Uber (whose Volvo XC90 went through a similar process) discovered, this is not a very effective way of doing things.
"Although we have been focusing on Waymo to train the most experienced drivers in the world, the Jaguar Land Rover team has developed a brand new battery-electric platform, hoping to set new standards in terms of safety, design and capabilities," Krafcik said in a statement Say. "We are confident that Waymo passengers will enjoy the safe, high-quality and enjoyable experience that the autonomous driving I-PACE will provide."
At the press conference, Krafcik explained that the second vehicle platform (in addition to the minivans mentioned above) was chosen to give consumers a choice. For those who need a lot of space, there will be Pacifica, while Jaguar adds more stylish and compact options. This also means that Waymo will have all-electric options-those Pacificas are plug-in hybrid electric vehicles-and the self-driving company will not be associated with a single car OEM.
For Jaguar Land Rover, this is also an important gain. In recent years, under Tata’s holdings, the company has done a lot to restore its reputation as a forward-looking automaker, and it will become the first luxury vehicle to put pure electric vehicles into production to compete with Tesla. brand. Although it has its own autonomous driving plan, there is no doubt that Waymo is far ahead of other industries in this regard.
"With Jaguar I-Pace, we have a world-class car that captures the imagination of customers all over the world," said Professor Dr. Ralf Speth, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover. "Our enthusiasm for the further advancement of smart mobility requires professional long-term partners. By joining forces with Waymo, we are opening up the boundaries of technology. Together we will deliver an ecological pace with elegance, space and customer expectations."
Waymo plans to launch a commercial ride-hailing service in Phoenix in 2018, but since so many automated I-Paces have been ordered, we believe that these electric Jags will provide services to other cities in 2020.
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Post time: Nov-15-2021