Car manufacturers Renault and Nissan are partnering with Waymo, a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet. The parties want to jointly further develop technology for self-driving cars and market autonomous vehicles in both France and Japan. As part of this, the parties are setting up a joint venture.
Renault and Nissan announce this. The collaboration with US-based Waymo appears to be separate from the merger between Fiat Chrysler and Renault, which is currently being negotiated. Part of this negotiation includes Renault selling a large part of its stake in Nissan; Renault owns 43% of Nissan's shares.
Both carmakers have been betting on autonomous driving for some time. Renault, for instance, previously announced that it would have 15 models with autonomous driving capabilities on the market by the end of 2022. The company does not comment on the level of autonomy these capabilities will offer. Nissan announced in 2018 that its ProPILOT technology will be incorporated in 20 models by 2022. This technology provides driving assistance. Among other things, ProPILOT prevents users from moving out of their lane and ensures that the vehicle automatically maintains a fixed distance from its predecessor.
Exclusive partnership
The parties report that this is an exclusive partnership initially aimed at developing autonomous mobility services for both passengers and goods in France and Japan. By joining forces, the parties aim to jointly explore market opportunities, conduct commercial research, address legal and regulatory challenges around autonomous 'Transport-as-a-Service' products in France and Japan.
Waymo emerged from the Google Self-Driving Car Project, which was started by Google in 2009 to develop an autonomous vehicle. This project was continued as Waymo in late 2016. This company sets itself the goal of making transport safer and easier for everyone, without requiring a person to be in the driver's seat. Waymo claims that its autonomous vehicles have now covered more than 10 million miles, over 16 million kilometres, without a driver.
Waymo One
Waymo has long offered Waymo One in Phoenix in the US state of Arizona. This service allows users to order a self-driving taxi from Waymo via an app and be autonomously transported to their destination. Users order a self-driving car via Waymo One's app, where they are immediately shown the route they will take. Then Waymo's vehicle will come in front, users will get in and be transported to their destination.
So the company is now partnering with Renault and Nissan to further develop the technology behind its self-driving vehicles, as well as get autonomous vehicles on French and Japanese roads. Waymo talks about "developing long-term, profitable driverless mobility services". To this end, analyses are being carried out at the headquarters of both Renault and Nissan in France and Japan respectively.
'Bringing autonomous technology to global stage'
"This is an ideal opportunity for Waymo to bring our autonomous technology to the global stage in collaboration with an innovative partner. With the reach and scale of the Alliance (ed: the Renault-Nissan partnership), our Waymo Driver can deliver transformational mobility services to serve travellers and deliver commercial goods in France, Japan and other countries," said John Krafcik, chief executive officer (CEO) of Waymo.
Thierry Bolloré, CEO of Groupe Renault, expects the partnership to accelerate the development of new shared mobility services. "We believe this partnership will accelerate our commitment to deliver new shared mobility services and bring benefits to the automotive ecosystem by putting us at the forefront of new business flows around driverless mobility in our key strategic markets," Bolloré said.
'Grow portfolio'
Hiroto Saikawa, president and CEO of Nissan Motor: "As we move towards our medium-term plan - Nissan M.O.V.E 2022 - to develop our business to meet the changing needs of consumers, Nissan sets the goal of being an early provider of driverless mobility services. Our expertise in the global automotive industry and expertise in strategic partnerships enable us to explore opportunities to grow our portfolio and deliver new value to customers of Waymo, which is a recognised leader in this field."
In time, the parties also want to expand their operations to other countries. Which countries are involved was not disclosed. However, Renault, Nissan and Waymo do explicitly mention that it is not China.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
