While Uber's self driving ambitions have hit a bit of a roadblock, others are pressing ahead with efforts to get autonomous vehicles into action. Waymo has teamed up with Jaguar Land Rover to put 20,000 newly designed self-driving cars on the road over the next few years. They're being billed as the world's first premium, electric self-driving SUVs.
Announced today, the partnership sees Waymo (formerly Google's self-driving car project) team up with Jaguar Land Rover to fit out its new I-Pace SUV for complete driving autonomy. Officially revealed earlier this month, the all-electric I-Pace has a massive range of 240 miles (386 km) and can be charged to 80 percent in just 40 minutes using a 100-kW rapid charger.
This month, Waymo clocked up its five millionth mile of autonomous vehicle testing on public roads, but if everything goes to plan with this new venture, things are about to ramp up significantly. With plans to add 20,000 I-Paces to its fleet in the next few years, it says those alone will be able to complete a million trips in a typical day.
Jaguar Land Rover has also been a pretty active player in the self-driving space, building test vehicles of its own, working on adventurous versions that go off-road and partnering with ride-sharing company Lyft as part of another self-driving collaboration. Its first self-driving I-Pace will join Waymo's fleet later this year.
Source: Waymo, Jaguar Land Rover
