Google-Geely tie-up revs up race to rule U.S. roads with robotaxis

• 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 Chinese carmaker Geely to build fully electric autonomous robotaxis for the United States, reports say.

Announcing the partnership, Alphabet said the deployment of the cars will be a big part of its commitment to “expanding access to sustainable transportation,” a CNN Business report said.

Big part of commitment

In a press release, the two firms said the ride-hailing cars would be designed and developed by Zeekr, Geely's electric mobility brand, at a facility in Sweden using "a new proprietary and open-source mobility architecture."

Read More: Waymo starts offering self-driving taxi service in San Francisco

Once delivered to Waymo in the United States, the cars will be installed with Waymo Driver, an autonomous driving technology.

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.”

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Their stories indicated that there's a demand for robotaxis. But there are also significant barriers to self-driving cars becoming a mainstay in Americans' lives anytime soon.

Google first established its self-driving car project in 2009. It was later re-named Waymo, and made a separate subsidiary of Alphabet.

Slippage of schedule

However, the slippage of the timeline for the project has been worrying. 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: Volvo to manufacture new Polestar 3 electric SUV in U.S.

After years of promise, Waymo has failed to offer widespread fully autonomous rides to the general public, the report says.

Meanwhile, this is not the first time that Geely has taken the route of partnering with 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