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Alphabet’s self-driving technology arm Waymo has signed up
with Chinese carmaker to develop smart cars.
No timeline has been offered by the two companies about when
the new offering will be available to the public.
Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) is diving
headlong into robotaxis – the autonomous, self-driving, smart cab service.
Alphabet’s self-driving arm Waymo is speeding up the process with a tie-up with
to build fully electric autonomous robotaxis for the United
States, reports say.
The companies have not shared a timeline for the vehicles to
hit the road. Waymo's website said in a blogpost that the cars would be
introduced within its Waymo"
One fleet "in the years to come."
Survey of customers
Waymo has said its self-driving vans have given tens of
thousands of rides since"
the company launched a public robotaxi service in Chandler, Arizona, more
than a year ago, according to the report.
It said CNN Business tested Waymo's service earlier this
year. A survey of eight Waymo customers who have used it over the past year showed
they're generally “very satisfied and prefer it to Uber, Lyft or owning their
own car.”
Also Read:
Google first established its self-driving"
car project in 2009. It was later re-named Waymo, and made a separate
subsidiary of Alphabet.
Missed deadlines
However, the missing of project deadlines has been
worrying to the company. Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s 2012 words that "you can count
on one hand the number of years until ordinary people can experience this,” have
come back to haunt Alphabet.
Also Read:
Meanwhile, this is not the first time that Geely"
has taken the route of partnering with a major technology companies to
build cars. In January 2021, the carmaker teamed up with Chinese search giant
Baidu to build intelligent electric cars.
Photo Credit: Waymo