Jaguar & Waymo Partner to Develop Luxury Self-Driving Car

Waymo, the autonomous car development company, and Jaguar, the luxury vehicle brand, recently announced a partnership to build and outfit up to 20,000 I-PACE fully electric cars over the next three years for their self-driving ride-hail service. The two companies plan to have prototypes on the road in Phoenix by the of the year, and have the fleet in production by 2020. This is Waymo’s step into the luxury end of the ride-share market, similar to UberBLACK.

The new Jaguar I-PACE is a compact SUV, the company’s answer to the Tesla, completely electric, with a range of 240 miles. With a large 95kWh battery and quick recharge time, the vehicle is optimal for ride-hailing services, as it can make it through a commuter cycle without needing to stop for a charge. Currently, Waymo offers a driverless ride-hailing service in Phoenix on a small scale, with Chrysler Pacific minivans—the only service of its kind. Adding 20,000 Jaguar electric cars sets it up to completely disrupt the industry. With that many vehicles, they would have the ability to handle a million rides a day.

The consumer, non-autonomous version of the I-PACE will go on the market later this year, with a base price tag of around $70,000. The self-driving version for Waymo will be loaded with sensors, cameras, and mapping technology.

Driverless technology under scrutiny

This announcement is exciting to be sure, but may have come at an unfortunate time, as people are looking at driverless technology with a newly critical eye. In March, a driverless vehicle (with a backup driver) owned by Uber killed a pedestrian crossing the street in Tempe. The accident is still under investigation, and Uber has halted their autonomous vehicle program since the fatality occurred. Many questions have been raised about whether or not the car’s technology was working correctly, and the backup driver may have been distracted at the time of the accident.

Consumers are understandably nervous about this development, but John Krafcik, Chief Executive of Waymo, is quick to reassure consumers that his company’s technology is not only safe, but superior. “We have a lot of confidence that our technology would be robust and would be able to handle situations like that one,” he told auto dealers at a Las Vegas convention.

Will incidents like the one with Uber derail the progress of driverless cars and ride-hail services? Will they be able to win the trust of consumers? Most safety experts and researchers believe that regardless of accidents that have already happened, autonomous vehicles are still safer than human drivers in the long run. However, it can require millions of miles of studies on public roads to get concrete, real, statistics.

A unique aspect of the Waymo-Jaguar partnership is the luxury one. It’s always been a status symbol to own a luxury car. It’s becoming a status symbol to use an Uber or Lyft rather than public transportation. Will it now become a status symbol to use a luxury premium car for your ride-hailing service? Time will tell, and it may tell us soon.

As we are starting to see, there are many legal issues still up in the air with autonomous cars. The Phoenix accident attorneys at Plattner Verderame, P.C. can help you sort through the red tape if you’re involved in a wreck with a vehicle that uses these new technologies. We will protect your rights. Contact our legal team today by calling 602-266-2002 or filling out our contact form.