Right now, Waymo's fleet runs on Jaguar I-Pace EVs. They retired their Chrysler Pacificas last year and are testing a small number of Zeekr minivan cabs with their latest autonomous system.
Waymo's newest tech includes 13 cameras, 4 lidar sensors, 6 radar units, and several external audio receivers. The company says this setup costs less than before and works better in different weather.
The shift from Zeekr minivans to Hyundai Ioniq 5s might happen because of tariffs on Chinese imports to the US. The Alphabet-owned firm declined to comment on the speculation when contacted by Reuters, but did tell the news outlet that “we are hard at work validating the 6th-generation Waymo Driver on the Zeekr platform and intend to introduce it into our fleet when ready.”
Zeekr also stated there's no change in their deal with Waymo, and they're still working together to get the vehicles on the road.
Hyundai had plans for their own Ioniq 5-based robotaxi. They wanted to launch it in 2024, but a Tech Crunch report in May said they've pushed it back to 2026.
Motional, a startup created by Hyundai and Aptiv, is going through some changes. They've stopped their Ioniq 5 taxi services in Las Vegas, where they worked with Lyft and Uber. They've also paused their delivery services with Uber Eats in Santa Monica. These vehicles were autonomous but still had a human driver present.
Source: Reuters
