§ Up to 62,000 additional Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans will join Waymo’s driverless fleet, starting in late 2018
§ The companies are also beginning discussions about the use of Waymo self-driving technology – potentially through licensing – in an FCA-manufactured vehicle available to retail customers
FCA US LLC and Waymo have announced that they will expand their partnership with an agreement to add up to 62,000 additional Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans to Waymo’s self-driving fleet. This venture builds upon a previous commitment, announced earlier this year, to deliver thousands of vehicles to Waymo’s driverless ride-hailing service. Vehicle delivery is expected to begin in late 2018.
FCA US and Waymo have also announced that they are beginning discussions about the use of Waymo self-driving technology – potentially through licensing – in an FCA-manufactured vehicle available to retail customers.
Currently, Waymo is the only company with a fleet of fully self-driving cars, with no one in the driver seat, on public roads. Later this year, Waymo will launch the world’s first self-driving transportation service, allowing the public to use Waymo’s app to request a vehicle.
FCA and Waymo first announced their partnership in May 2016. This first-of-its-kind collaboration brought engineers from FCA and Waymo together to integrate Waymo’s fully self-driving system into the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan, leveraging each company’s individual strengths and resources. Since then, FCA and Waymo engineers have continued working together to support Waymo’s expansion and to evolve the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan with self-driving technology.
The self-driving Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans are one of the most advanced vehicles on the road today, equipped with Waymo’s self-driving system, including a powerful hardware suite and software that has been perfected over six million miles of on-road testing. To date, FCA has delivered 600 Pacifica Hybrid minivans to Waymo.
