For a long time, the Waymo subsidiary, even when it was a single entity with the Google corporation, could not decide on the commercial application of its developments in the field of automatically controlled ground transport. Now the partnership with the Fiat Chrysler concern has reached serious proportions: several hundred specially equipped Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans have already been produced, which are experimentally carrying out passenger transportation in the state of Arizona. In the future, Waymo wants to increase the fleet of such “automated taxis” to several tens of thousands of cars, but at the same time announced the construction of its own production line in Detroit with the support of industrial partners, which will be able to assemble “robotic cars” of the fourth, penultimate level of autonomy.
The Waymo One automated taxi service began commercial operations in Arizona in limited mode since December last year. The total mileage of prototypes and production minivans has reached 16 million kilometers on public roads in 25 US cities. The company was the first to decide not to place test drivers behind the wheel of its prototypes, who could interfere with the process of driving the car in critical situations. However, after some road incidents, Waymo chose to put insurance specialists behind the wheel of its prototypes.
In general, for Waymo, focusing on cooperation with existing automakers has always been a priority, since it already interacts with Fiat Chrysler and Jaguar Land Rover, and is also in negotiations with many other automakers. It was the collaboration with the Jaguar brand that allowed Waymo to create automatically controlled electric vehicles on the Jaguar i-Pace chassis.
At a recent quarterly conference, representatives from parent holding Alphabet explained that Waymo is concentrating on a service for sharing automated vehicles, but its projects are not limited to this. The company is interested in the market of logistics services, including long-distance freight transportation, and the segment of municipal passenger transportation in large cities.
In March of this year, Waymo announced that it would allow third-party companies to use the optical radar it developed (called “lidar”) on a commercial basis. It is expected that developers of robotics and security systems will be the first to adopt it. In the future, all of Waymo’s developments in the field of autopilot will be able to be used in agriculture or in automated warehouses.
Note that at a recent event on a similar topic, Tesla founder Elon Musk sharply criticized the idea of using “lidars” in the field of vehicle automation. He admitted that he himself initiated the use of “lidar” by the aerospace company SpaceX, which he controls, to control the process of docking spacecraft in space, but he considers the use of this type of sensors in cars unnecessary. If competitors are to create “lidars,” they need to make them work in the invisible part of the spectrum. According to Musk, the combination of cameras and conventional radars perfectly solves the problem of orienting a “robotic car” in space. Lidars are not only useless, but also costly for manufacturers, Musk believes.
Source: 3dnews.ru