Waymo and Zeekr team up to build a fleet of sleek autonomous EV taxis
Chinese company Geely Holding Group has announced that the Zeekr brand has worked with Waymo to develop an EV self-driving taxi which is intended to be used in the US. After the development and manufacturing process is complete, the upcoming autonomous electric vehicle will be sent to Waymo, which will integrate new vehicles with the existing Waymo Driver platform.
The self-driving electric vehicle fleet will revolutionize public transportation throughout the world, one day allows almost everyone to order the appropriate zero-emissions taxi and have it appear on their own door. Waymo is one of the companies that have spent years developing autonomous driving technology, which is compiled together as the Waymo driver vehicle platform.
The Waymo driver will be equipped with the upcoming ZEEKR EV, according to Geely, who said “pure electric vehicles” will be developed at the European European Vehicle Technology Center (CEVT) in Sweden. Although many details still do not exist at this time, Geely records the upcoming model will be built based on the “architecture of proprietary mobility and open-source.”
A number of images were released as part of the announcement that showed a design similar to the minivan, although with many unique elements made possible, in part, with the lack of large gasoline engines under the tent. This design prioritizes motorists, geely notes, and includes the “fully configurable” cabin to meet different needs, including accommodating drivers control for the market that requires it.
Even though we know Waymo will receive an EV unit in the US for use with its autonomous driving platform, the company has not revealed all types of time on design, development, and shipping. It is not clear how many Waymo units will receive and how long before motorists in the US have the opportunity to experience their own EV.
Zeepr is a neophyte on the EV market; Founded earlier this year with a focus on the design and engineering of electric vehicles in Sweden. The first model of Zeekr, which was only called 001, was introduced in April with the delivery that kicked back in October.
Despite the rapid progress in the autonomous market and EV, it will still be short before the average person can praise the self-driving car for their next trip to the grocery store. In October, Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson said at the Reuters event, the automotive summit that an autonomous taxi might still be a decade.
In addition to developing sophisticated software to overcome a challenging real-world scenario, these carmakers must also convince the regulatory body – and the general public – that their products are safe (or safer than) vehicles operated by humans.