Waymo mentioned it lately acquired its final supply of Jaguar I-Tempo SUVs, which shall be retrofitted with sensors and autonomous driving expertise at its manufacturing facility in Arizona, earlier than becoming a member of its robotaxi fleet.
In a blog post published today, the Alphabet firm mentioned it at the moment has 1,500 Jaguars working throughout its 4 primary markets: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin. And it plans on including 2,000 extra in 2026, for a complete fleet measurement of three,500. The corporate lately hit a mean of 250,000 paid passenger journeys per week.
Waymo usually doesn’t prefer to touch upon the dimensions of its fleet, so at this time’s announcement offers a uncommon glimpse into the variety of robotaxis the corporate at the moment 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 facility in Mesa, Arizona. The corporate’s remaining batch of Jaguar I-Paces shall be assembled there, which ought to carry Waymo by to subsequent 12 months. And beginning in 2026, Waymo will start work on its sixth era “Waymo Driver,” which can 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.
As a way to adapt to a number of automobile platforms, Waymo says its Mesa manufacturing facility will add automated meeting traces and “different efficiencies” over time. And when it’s working at full capability, the corporate expects it is going to be in a position to churn out “tens of 1000’s” of robotaxis annually. 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 facility. Every automobile drives itself into service after leaving the manufacturing facility, the place it’s prepared for passenger pickups inside half-hour, in accordance with Waymo spokesperson Chris Bonelli.