Waymo stated it just lately acquired its final supply of Jaguar I-Tempo SUVs, which might be retrofitted with sensors and autonomous driving expertise at its manufacturing unit in Arizona, earlier than becoming a member of its robotaxi fleet.
In a weblog publish revealed at the moment, the Alphabet firm stated it presently has 1,500 Jaguars working throughout its 4 predominant markets: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin. And it plans on including 2,000 extra autos into 2026, for a complete fleet dimension of three,500. The corporate just lately hit a mean of 250,000 paid passenger journeys per week.
Waymo sometimes doesn’t prefer to touch upon the scale of its fleet, so at the moment’s announcement supplies a uncommon glimpse into the variety of robotaxis the corporate presently has in operation. Waymo’s plans to scale up comes as the corporate eyes Atlanta, Miami, and Washington, DC for launch in 2026.
Waymo assembles its robotaxis with the assistance of auto engineering firm Magna Worldwide at a 239,000 square-foot manufacturing unit in Mesa, Arizona. The corporate’s closing batch of Jaguar I-Paces might be assembled there, which ought to carry Waymo by way of to subsequent 12 months. And beginning in 2026, Waymo will start work on its sixth era “Waymo Driver,” which is able to launch within the Zeekr RT. Zeekr is a subsidiary of Geely, which is one in every of China’s largest automakers.
The brand new robotaxi is being designed in Sweden (the place Geely owns Swedish carmaker Volvo), tailored from Geely’s all-electric five-door Zeekr. Waymo is then importing the autos to Arizona, the place they are going to be outfitted with the {hardware} and software program essential for autonomous driving. The primary check autos started arriving within the US final 12 months.
In an effort to adapt to a number of automobile platforms, Waymo says its Mesa manufacturing unit will add automated meeting strains and “different efficiencies” over time. And when it’s working at full capability, the corporate expects it is going to be capable of churn out “tens of hundreds” of robotaxis every year. Waymo added new processes on the finish of the meeting line for passenger validation and fee to make sure every automobile is able to settle for riders as quickly because it leaves the manufacturing unit. Every automobile drives itself into service after leaving the manufacturing unit, the place it’s prepared for passenger pickups inside half-hour, in keeping with Waymo spokesperson Chris Bonelli.
