According to the statement, around 100 Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans will be used for the testing, which will more than double the size of Google’s current self-driving fleet. (This is a level beyond the Lexus RX, which Google retrofitted without a manufacturing partnership with Lexus or Toyota.) The companies will be co-staffing a facility in MI, near FCA’s USA headquarters, to build the vehicles. Sources say both companies may sign an agreement today that will put Google’s self-driving technology in Chrysler Pacifica minivans this year.
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“FCA has a nimble and experienced engineering team and the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan is well-suited for Google’s self-driving technology”, said John Krafcik, CEO of Google’s Self-Driving Car Project.
After months (and months and months) of rumors, including one rumor that it was partnering with Ford, Google’s self-driving vehicle is going into manufacturing mode, with a new prototype based on the Chrysler Pacifica minivan.
“The Google Self-Driving Car Project is part of X, a moonshot factory that’s part of Google’s parent company Alphabet”. The addition of the minivans will be, at the least, doubling Google’s autonomous vehicle fleet, and could lead to testing in an expanded number of cities around the nation.
Google is working with Chrysler to develop 100 autonomous Pacifica hybrids.
Though few details of the partnership between Google and Fiat Chrysler have been revealed, reports have indicated that the deal is not mutually exclusive, giving both companies the freedom to collaborate with other companies on developing driverless cars as well. Google wasn’t immediately available to explain whether this was the first step in a longer-term collaboration between the two companies, or how this order affects the company’s relationship with Lexus, which supplied the first tranche of vehicles Google tested. It aims to get self-driving cars on the road by 2020.
Google wants to take its self-driving cars to the next level.
Google, which has run more than 1.4 million miles of tests on its own driverless prototypes, has been in discussions with various auto manufacturers about working together. I’m hoping Chrysler makes a slam-dunk here, mostly thanks to all of Google’s hard work.
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In 2009 Fiat finished its takeover of Chrysler after Chrysler’s bankruptcy proceedings.
