Waymo, the Alphabet-owned robotaxi service that’s currently using a fleet of electric Jaguar I-Pace crossovers to offer driverless rides in several American cities, has brought an undisclosed number of Zeekr-made autonomous minivans on American soil, according to a TechCrunch scoop.
The news came yesterday, the same day General Motors announced it abandoned its Cruise Origin autonomous minivan project because of regulatory hurdles caused by the lack of a steering wheel and pedals. Costs were also a concern.
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The American robotaxi landscape
While Tesla keeps playing the "coming soon" card regarding a potential robotaxi business and GM's Cruise is still in limp mode after a bumpy road last year, Alphabet's Waymo is charging ahead with more investments and a new, next-gen vehicle.
The electric, potentially driverless minivan was unveiled in 2021. It was designed and engineered in Sweden by Zeekr, one of Geely’s car brands, which also manages the manufacturing process at one of its factories in China. It has seating for five and four sliding doors, making ingress and egress a breeze.
That said, Waymo insists that the Chinese-made autonomous vehicle, which features its sixth-generation sensor suite, much of which was designed and built in-house, leaves the assembly line without any software or sensors produced by Zeekr. After the prototypes are shipped to the United States, the so-called Waymo Driver suite of hardware and software is integrated into the vehicles.
The latest-gen Waymo robotaxi is at the beginning of its journey stateside. There are currently “less than a handful” of Zeekr AVs in San Francisco, and none are driving autonomously yet. Instead, they’re being tested by human drivers, just like Cruise is doing with its fleet of Chevrolet Bolt EVs after last year’s debacle that forced its former CEO to resign.
Gallery: Waymo Zeekr Robotaxi
The upgraded hardware and software on the sixth-gen vehicle are simpler than the tech on the current Jaguar I-Pace EVs that run on the fifth-generation Driver. It includes lidar, radar, cameras and microphones that are more capable than before, which will help the company expand its operations in cold environments someday. Furthermore, TechCrunch wrote that the hardware has been tested in extra hot climates like Death Valley and Las Vegas.
Compared to the ill-fated Cruise Origin, Waymo’s Zeekr-made minivan has a removable steering wheel, which could make its homologation process a bit easier. Furthermore, the Chinese-built EV looks like it’s on track to become Waymo’s future vehicle, period, seeing how the Jaguar I-Pace has recently been discontinued, making it impossible for the Alphabet-owned company to replace damaged vehicles or add new ones to its fleet once Jaguar’s inventory dries up.
