Waymo to Use Jaguar I-Pace EV in Autonomous Fleet

Today Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo unit and Jaguar Land Rover Ltd. announced a “long-term strategic collaboration” to develop and test autonomous vehicle technologies.

Under the deal, Waymo plans to add 20,000 of Jaguar’s new all-electric I-Pace crossover models to its self-driving vehicle fleet. Waymo will purchase the vehicles from Jaguar and equip them with a suite of sensors and processing units to enable autonomous steering, braking and throttle capabilities.

The partners plan to begin testing the vehicles later this year. The 20,000 self-driving I-Pace vehicles are expected to provide data from as many as 1 million trips per day.

Following the tests, Waymo aims to make the vehicles available for public use by 2020 as part of a new ride-hailing service the company is launching. Jaguar will continue to develop and test its own autonomous vehicle technology.

Waymo says it has logged more than five million miles of testing with autonomous vehicles in the U.S. in recent years. Most of the miles have been accumulated in the last two years with a fleet Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans equipped with Waymo’s technology. Earlier this month, Waymo began offering consumer tests rides in the vehicles with no backup driver onboard.