Waymo Remember that he doesn’t just want to be another carpooling competitor.
THE Belonging to the alphabet The company announced Thursday that it was in discussions 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 as 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 maps a city or 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 such as Uber. In Phoenix, customers can order a waymo on the Uber application. In Austin, Uber also oversees the Waymo Robotaxi fleet.
Tesla also said he would launch a Robotaxi Pilot Service in Austin in June.
CEO Elon Musk said in the last profit call That Tesla is better positioned to evolve a Robotaxi service because its cars and its 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 one million robotaxis On the road by the following 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”.
Co -founder and The former Waymo CEO, John Krafcik, Said Business Insider in March that anyone who did not know if Waymo wanted to be more than a simple co -widening competitor “did not pay attention”.
“Waymo has been clear on all these sectors of the company as applications for the Waymo driver,” he said.