Waymo recalled that he does not just want to be another carpool competitor.
The company belonging to Alphabet announced Thursday that it was in discussion at the start of the stage with Toyota Motor Corporation to explore the creation of its autonomous driving technology to personal vehicles. The press release indicates that Toyota could also provide its vehicles to add to the Waymo Robotaxi fleet.
“In parallel, companies will explore how to use Waymo’s autonomous technology and Toyota vehicle expertise to improve new generation vehicles (POV),” Waymo and Toyota said in a joint press release. “The scope of collaboration will continue to evolve through current discussions.”
Waymo said in the announcement that he is building an “generalizable” autonomous driver who can be applied to different “platforms and vehicle companies over time”.
The development of a generalized autonomous engine is similar to the approach of companies like Tesla or Wayve. It refers to an autonomous driving system which can operate in different environments and vehicles, that the system has been familiar with a particular region.
“For example, when we start driving in a new city, the same software that is active on other markets will allow the vehicle to drive well in a new environment,” Waymo spokesperson, Business Insider.
Currently, Waymo diverts a city or a region before deploying a Robotaxi service to the public in this area. This is why the Waymo autonomous driver is not often called generalized AI.
Waymo has focused strongly on the widening of its Robotaxi operations. The company said that it now offers more than 250,000 journeys each week in the San Francisco Bay region, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin. He also plans to extend his service to Atlanta, Miami and Washington, DC.
Part of its scaling strategy includes partnership with carpooling platforms like Uber. In Phoenix, customers can order a waymo on the Uber application. In Austin, Uber also oversees the Waymo Robotaxi fleet.
Tesla also said she would launch a driver Robotaxi service in Austin in June.
The CEO Elon Musk said in the latest call of results that Tesla is better placed to scale a Robotaxi service because its cars and autonomous driving technology are cheaper to develop and faster to deploy. However, he missed deadlines to keep these promises on several occasions. In 2019, Musk said Tesla could bring a million Robotaxis on the road by the next year.
Toyota collaboration is a reminder that Waymo is thinking about how to take advantage of its autonomous driving technology to develop in other sectors of activity, such as being a supplier of software and equipment for OEMs that sell personal cars.
CEO of alphabet Sundar Pichai said for Thursday profit call That there is also “a future option regarding personal property”.
The co -founder and former CEO of Waymo, John Krafcik, told Business Insider in March that anyone who did not know if Waymo wanted to be more than a simple competitor of carpooling “did not pay attention”.
“Waymo has been clear on all these sectors of the company as applications for the Waymo driver,” he said.
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