WAYMO OPENED TO REALLY DARING INNOVATION
Waymo, the self-driving technology company created in 2009 at Google, which officially became Waymo in 2016, is the world’s first driverless ride-hailing service. It has constantly being testing its cars on public roads since October 2015 and, today, is ready to develop its scope and scale using the high-end minivans and entering into the driverless taxi service.
Waymo takes, in fact, a step further into the future with a brand new collaboration with the Italian-American corporation Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), which is currently the world’s eighth largest auto manufacturing group.
FCA will then provide thousands of hybrid Pacificas to the U.S.-based, self-driving technology company. Those self-driving cars have been designed and conceived by engineers both from Waymo and FCA who worked together to build this futuristic vehicle on a mass production platform.
SYNERGIES BETWEEN “LIKE-MINDED TECHNOLOGY LEADERS”
“In order to move quickly and efficiently in autonomy, it is essential to partner with like-minded technology leaders. Our partnership with Waymo continues to grow and strengthen (and) this represents the latest sign of our commitment to this technology,” said Sergio Marchionne, FCA’s chief executive officer.
Until now the two companies have, however, not given details on how many minivans will be needed by Waymo.
The hybrid Pacificas destined to Waymo will be produced in the FCA Windsor Assembly plant in Ontario, Canada.
“It’s great news for the plant in Windsor. Already they have 600 minivans in their possession … FCA delivered 100 in the second half of 2016 and then an additional 500 in 2017. Right now, all we’re saying is that we are going to be able to supply thousands to them. And the reason why we’re not giving out the number is because it’s really dependent on their strategy and their business plan. It’s dependent on their needs,” said Dianna Gutierrez, FCA spokeswoman.
