Waymo and FCA’s expanded deal includes self-driving Ram vans
Ever since 2016 Waymo and FCA (which will soon be known as Stellantis) have partnered on self-driving vehicles and technology, and now that connection is expanding “in several important ways.” From FCA’s side, it’s exclusively using Waymo’s autonomous vehicle technology, while Alphabet-owned Waymo is making FCA its exclusive partner on level 4 autonomous light commercial vehicles.
So as Waymo Via expands its reach into delivering goods, the first vehicle they’ll use is a Ram ProMaster van. Beyond the Chrysler Pacificas it uses to test a taxi service, Waymo is also working on applying its tech to big rigs and other passenger vehicles like the Jaguar I-Pace. Earlier this year Waymo unveiled the fifth generation of its autonomous driver tech, which uses 360-degree LiDAR and costs half as much as the previous generation.
FCA CEO Mike Manley said in a statement announcing the deal that “we’re turning to the needs of our commercial customers by jointly enabling self-driving for light commercial vehicles, starting with the Ram ProMaster. Adding Waymo’s commitment to partner with us to deploy its L4 fully autonomous technology across our entire product portfolio, our partnership is setting the pace for the safe and sustainable mobility solutions that will help define the automotive world in the years and decades to come.”
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