{"id":21801,"date":"2018-01-31T18:10:31","date_gmt":"2018-01-31T22:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=21801"},"modified":"2018-01-31T18:10:31","modified_gmt":"2018-01-31T22:10:31","slug":"waymo-orders-1000s-of-pacificas-for-driverless-taxis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/waymo-orders-1000s-of-pacificas-for-driverless-taxis","title":{"rendered":"Waymo orders 1,000s of Pacificas for driverless taxis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Waymo_minivan_side\"<\/p>\n<\/div>

Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles announced Tuesday that Waymo has ordered thousands of Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans for delivery by the end of this year as Google\u2019s self-driving subsidiary expands its driverless ride-hailing service to multiple cities.<\/p>\n

The Pacifica hybrid will be Waymo\u2019s primary workhorse when its service debuts in Phoenix sometime this year. Other cities have not been announced.<\/p>\n

The sleek minivans will be equipped with steering wheels, but will not have drivers in the front seats. Waymo, which had previously ordered 600 Pacificas, is expected to launch the world\u2019s first driverless service offered to the public.\u00a0General Motors has petitioned<\/a>\u00a0the federal government to allow its Chevy Bolt autonomous vehicles \u2014 the first robotic cars without steering wheels \u2014 on the road by 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the world\u2019s first fleet of fully self-driving vehicles on the road, we\u2019ve moved from research and development, to operations and deployment,\u201d Waymo boss John Krafcik said in a statement. \u201cThe Pacifica Hybrid minivans offer a versatile interior and a comfortable ride experience, and these additional vehicles will help us scale.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three-row minivans are produced in Windsor and then shipped to a facility in Metro Detroit where they are outfitted with self-driving hardware and software by a team of Waymo and Chrysler engineers.<\/p>\n

The hybrid\u2019s electric powertrain makes an ideal vehicle to accommodate Waymo\u2019s self-driving technology, which includes high-powered computers and lidar, which uses lasers to \u201csee\u201d what\u2019s around the car.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to move quickly and efficiently in autonomy, it is essential to partner with like-minded technology leaders,\u201d said FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne. \u201cOur partnership with Waymo continues to grow and strengthen; this represents the latest sign of our commitment to this technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0Last November in Phoenix, Waymo began test-driving its fleet of minivans. While passengers are free to occupy any of the three rows of seats, the second row contains video screens so that occupants can follow the road from the vehicle\u2019s perspective.<\/div>\n

Without drivers, Waymo achieved a milestone as the first so-called \u201cLevel 4\u201d autonomous vehicles, which can operate without drivers within limited geographic areas. Waymo and Chrysler are in a race with other Fortune 500 automotive and technology manufacturers \u2014 including heavyweights like GM, Toyota, Ford, Volvo, Intel, Apple, Nvidia, Intel and Uber \u2014 to produce the first successful autonomous ride-sharing services.<\/p>\n

Waymo has tested its technology in 25 cities across the U.S., including Atlanta, San Francisco and Detroit. GM has been testing its Volt AV fleet in San Francisco in conjunction with Cruise Automation, and Uber and Volvo have been running public tests in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

Chrysler began its collaboration with Waymo in late 2016 with the delivery of 100 Pacifica hybrids. An additional 500 were delivered in 2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles announced Tuesday that Waymo has ordered thousands of Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans for delivery by the end of this year as Google\u2019s self-driving subsidiary expands its driverless ride-hailing service to multiple cities. The Pacifica hybrid will be Waymo\u2019s primary workhorse when its service debuts in Phoenix sometime this year. Other cities have not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21801"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21801"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21802,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21801\/revisions\/21802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}