Thursday Volvo Car Group and Waymo formed an alliance that will see Waymo be the exclusive partner for Level 4 self-driving that is full autonomy in certain conditions for its vehicles. Therefore, this deal makes Volvo the fourth automaker to commit to integrating Waymo’s AV technology in its vehicles with Volvo also having preexisting agreements with Nissan-Renault, Fiat Chrysler and Jaguar Land Rover and is planning to release a handful of EVs in the next few years, including the XC40 Recharge and the Polestar 2.
Alright, so going back to the Volvo – Waymo partnership it means that Volvo will integrate Waymo’s autonomous driving technology, widely considered to be among the best in the world, into a fleet of electric robotaxis that it will deploy at some point in the future. The deal also applies to Volvo’s two subrands, its electric performance company Polestar and its Chinese brand Lynk & Co.
The two didn’t outline when they expected cars built on Waymo tech to appear. Reuters notes that Volvo still has a separate deal to provide vehicles to Uber, which adds self-driving equipment after the fact.
Waymo famously sued Uber in 2017 for allegedly stealing some of its self-driving technology. The two companies settled the following year. And now Uber is weighing whether it may have to come to a licensing agreement with Waymo or make design changes to its autonomous vehicle technology, following an independent investigation that found some of Waymo’s designs still in use by Uber.
“This agreement does not affect Volvo Cars’ vehicle supply deal with Uber,” a Volvo spokesperson said. “We will continue to deliver autonomous drive ready vehicles to Uber.”
This is another coup for Waymo, which already has team-ups with Fiat Chrysler, Jaguar Land Rover and Renault Nissan Mitsubishi. It’s also a significant step up for Volvo’s autonomy plans. The company has been developing driverless tech for years and has been inching toward use in passenger cars with plans for built-in LiDAR, but this could accelerate matters by delivering an advanced and largely ready self-driving system.
