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Alphabet-owned Waymo revealed details about its newest “generation 6” self-driving technology on Monday. Its new driverless tech, integrated into Geely Zeekr electric vehicles, should be able to handle a wider array of weather conditions without requiring as many costly cameras and sensors on board.
The company invited CNBC to its Mountain View, California, garage to see the new robotaxis in development. Satish Jeyachandran, Waymo’s vice president of engineering, said the team is “confident we can bring this generation to market much faster than the prior generation,” citing advances in machine learning technology and semiconductor performance.
Waymo’s commercial robotaxi service first went live in late 2018 in the U.S. The company previously integrated its driverless systems into Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans and fully electric Jaguar I-PACE SUVs.
Executives are sharing details about the forthcoming robotaxis as Waymo works to scale its existing service, Waymo One, within the Sunbelt cities of San Francisco, Phoenix, Austin, Texas, and Los Angeles.
Today, Waymo provides around 50,000 paid driverless trips weekly, primarily in San Francisco and Phoenix. In June, the company dropped its waitlist and opened Waymo rides to any users in San Francisco. Waymo has completed more than 2 million trips to date.
Last month, Alphabet announced it would invest a fresh $5 billion in its autonomous vehicle unit, which first began as “project chauffeur” at Google in 2009.
Jeyachandran told CNBC that the capital will be used mostly for scaling, including adding the new robotaxis to its fleet once Generation 6 testing and validation is complete. He said he anticipates that Waymo’s Jaguar I-PACE and Geely Zeekr vehicles will “coexist.”
The forthcoming Waymo-Zeekr is a boxier ride that has about the same footprint as the existing Waymo I-Pace SUVs.
However, the Zeekr has an interior that may prove more accessible to some riders. It includes a low step, and a high ceiling with more legroom between rows of seats, among other features.
Waymo has continued custom development of sensors and software — including lidar, radar and others — that are fitted around the Zeekr in a manner that gives the car’s system a “360 view” of obstacles to identify and avoid. The sensors also feature wipers to clear them of most dirt and precipitation.
In part to lower the cost of each robotaxi, Waymo said it has reduced the number of cameras on board from 29 to 13 and lidar sensors from five to four. The company is now testing generation 6 on public roads with professional drivers on board those vehicles.
Waymo is also doing some of its testing and validation work in Detroit, Buffalo, New York, and New York to understand more about how its driverless cars will perform in different types of traffic and weather.
Although commercial robotaxi services from Didi and Pony.ai are up and running in China, Waymo faces little competition in the U.S. for now. Domestically, GM-owned Cruise experienced setbacks that took its driverless vehicles off the road temporarily, while Uber and Ford shuttered earlier driverless efforts. Tesla has yet to deliver a driverless car but plans to unveil its “dedicated robotaxi” in October.