Costs should fall
The company’s self-driving vehicles are expensive because of the built-in computers, cameras and sensors – but Waymo is in the process of reducing costs. The next generation of vehicles and their software only need 13 cameras instead of the previous 29. The number of laser radars that scan the area around the cars drops from five to four.
The now 6th generation of the Waymo system is supposed to be in Electric cars the Zeekr brand Chinese Geely Group will be integrated. Waymo is currently on the road with converted vehicles from the Jaguar iPace model, which is also battery-powered.
New robotaxi in road tests
Waymo is particularly advanced in developing software for autonomous driving and transports passengers with driverless robotaxis in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix. What a ride in one of the cars feels like and how exactly the company wants to turn high-tech cars into a lucrative business, read this article.
Zeekr’s new vehicle is currently being tested with safety drivers behind the wheel. Waymo has not yet provided any information on when it will be integrated into the commercial fleet. Waymo manager Satish Jeyachandran told US broadcaster CNBC that he assumes that the two latest generations of the system will be side by side on the road. The company has several hundred Jaguar vehicles in operation.
Hardly any rivals for Waymo
Waymo currently has almost no competition in the robotaxi business. The General Motors subsidiary Cruise was on a rapid expansion course. However, it stopped its vehicles for several months after an accident in which a pedestrian was dragged several meters by one of the cars in San Francisco. Cruise cars are only just beginning to return to the road. The too Amazon The company Zoox, which belongs to the company, is still working on launching its driverless taxi rides in Las Vegas.
Also Tesla would like to present the prototype of a robotaxis in October. However, it could be years before the vehicle hits the road. In addition, many experts are skeptical because Tesla boss Elon Musk (53) previously wanted to forego laser radars and only achieve autonomy with cameras.