Waymo and Jaguar will build up to 20,000 self-driving electric SUVs
Waymo and Jaguar Land Rover have inked a deal that will add tens of thousands of all-electric I-Pace SUVs to the Alphabet unit's growing lineup of self-driving taxis. The I-Pace, which made its global debut earlier this month, is not as much of a people-mover as Waymo's Chrysler Pacifica minivans, but it will serve as a more high-end ride for those willing to pay a premium for their driverless transportation.
The first prototype I-Pace with Waymo's self-driving technology will hit the road for public testing at the end of 2018, and officially become part of Waymo's commercial ride-hailing service starting in 2020. Waymo and Jaguar Land Rover's engineers will work in tandem to build these cars to be self-driving from the start, rather than retrofitting them after they come off the assembly line. Long-term, the companies say they plan to build up to 20,000 vehicles in the first two years of production, with the goal of serving a potential 1 million trips a day. It's unclear how much money would be trading hands under the deal.
Related: Waymo Orders Thousands More Chrysler Pacifica Minivans for Driverless Fleet
Google/Waymo Announces Testing of Self-Driving Trucks in Atlanta, Georgia
(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday March 28 2018, @01:09AM (4 children)
Waymo on Uber crash: Our car would have been able to handle it [mercurynews.com]
It's plausible that "bad boy" Uber has made the driverless industry look dangerous when the circumstances surrounding the crash could actually be unique to Uber:
Uber’s need for self-driving cars before running out of money may endanger the entire industry [qz.com]
Uber’s Self-Driving Cars Were Struggling Before Arizona Crash [nytimes.com]
So a company well known for corporate misconduct, disdain for regulation, and illegal activities appears to have rushed its driverless program. Google/Waymo could be in a far better position to deploy safe driverless cars.
That's not to say that "perfected" driverless cars will cause no crashes or pedestrian deaths. But the Uber death video showed that the LIDAR didn't look like it was even being used whatsoever, and the lone test driver was not paying attention, whereas other companies are reportedly using a driver + engineer.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday March 28 2018, @02:27AM (3 children)
Could. Will it?
Are 2 years enough to answer to this question?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Troll) by takyon on Wednesday March 28 2018, @02:40AM (1 child)
Look at TFA. Google is laying down the cash. They are going for it. You just have to sit back, relax, and enjoy the
deathsshow.Also, I habitually use "weasel words" like "could" now.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by c0lo on Wednesday March 28 2018, @02:49AM
FTFY 👍
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by tonyPick on Wednesday March 28 2018, @06:01AM
Two years to deploy a general function AI of near-human capability?
I'm guessing no.