https://www.wsj.com/articles/waymo-orders-up-to-20-000-jaguar-suvs-for-driverless-fleet-1522159944
By Tim Higgins and Chester Dawson
March 27, 2018 10:12 a.m. ETAs Uber Technologies Inc. reels from a fatal crash involving one of its autonomous vehicles, rival Waymo is moving ahead, buying as many as 20,000 Jaguar vehicles for its robot fleet.
The deal, announced Tuesday, is potentially worth more than $1 billion, and escalates Waymo’s effort to put vehicles on public roads without human drivers behind the wheel. The vote of confidence comes a day after Arizona’s governor suspended Uber from testing in the state following the first pedestrian death involving a self-driving vehicle.
The governor’s order doesn’t extend to other companies including Waymo. The self-driving car unit of Google parent Alphabet Inc. GOOGL -1.20% has been testing since 2016 in the Phoenix metro area and has announced plans to begin a commercial robot taxi service there later this year.
Waymo will add its driverless technology to the new Jaguar I-Pace all-electric sport-utility vehicle and it said it would begin testing this year before deploying the SUVs in 2020. The companies said as many as 20,000 of the SUVs will be built in the first two years, and more vehicles could be purchased after that.
Uber, which has been racing to catch up with Waymo, paused its testing last week in four cities after one of its Volvo SUV test vehicles struck a pedestrian walking her bike across a road in Tempe, Ariz. Investigators are reviewing the case; some autonomous-car specialists say the vehicle’s sensors should have detected the woman.
The crash stirred lawmakers to call for regulating autonomous-vehicle development, and at least one car maker, Toyota Motor Corp. , decided to temporarily halt public testing of its self-driving vehicles.
On Monday, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who has been welcoming of driverless technology in the state, sent a letter to Uber’s CEO saying he would suspend the company’s testing after “an unquestionable failure” to comply with expectations of public safety. Uber said it would help the investigators and address any concerns with the governor’s office.
Waymo’s chief executive, John Krafcik, has expressed confidence in the aftermath of the crash, telling car dealers at a convention in Las Vegas on Saturday his company’s technology would have avoided hitting the pedestrian. Uber, in response to those remarks, said “safety is our primary concern every step of the way.”
Waymo plans to add a second commercial test market this year and will eventually expand internationally, Mr. Krafcik said Saturday. The company has been testing its technology in six states including its home state of California.
Experts Break Down the Self-Driving Uber Crash
The Tempe, Ariz., police released a video of the fatal accident involving a pedestrian and an Uber self-driving vehicle. We asked experts to analyze the footage and explain what factors may have caused systems to fail. Photo: National Transportation Safety Board
Waymo says a fleet of 20,000 Jaguars could serve a million trips a day. A fleet about that size has the potential to service a small to midsize community, according to research conducted by Larry Burns, who has consulted for Waymo and worked at General Motors as head of research and development.In a 2013 study with Columbia University’s Earth Institute, his team focused on Ann Arbor, Mich., a community of about 285,000 at the time, and calculated that a fleet of about 18,000 driverless cars could handle the needs of 120,000 customers who drive less than 70 miles a day.
The deal with Tata Motors Inc.’s Jaguar Land Rover signals momentum for Mr. Krafcik, a longtime automotive executive hired in 2015 to turn Waymo from a project into a business and to help convince skeptical automotive companies to deploy the company’s tech.
Mr. Krafcik signed a deal in 2016 with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV to acquire minivans for its testing fleet. That relationship has expanded and earlier this year Waymo said it would acquire thousands of minivans from Chrysler. Honda, Volkswagen AG and Hyundai Motor Co. have all said they have had conversations with Waymo about possibly working together, though each company has declined to give specifics.
Mr. Krafcik has also enlisted Avis Budget Group Inc. and AutoNation Inc. to help maintain its growing fleet.
Tuesday’s agreement could also help Jaguar as it comes to market with an all-electric vehicle to compete against Tesla Inc. Jaguar sold 178,601 vehicles globally last year. The I-Pace reaches U.S. showrooms in the second half of the year and begins at $69,500 excluding fees.
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