Waymo is in talks with Hyundai to outsource manufacturing of its self-driving vehicles, reported Reuters citing Electronic Times of Korea.
According to the report, officials from Waymo and Hyundai have met more than three times in order to discuss plans to use examples of the Ioniq 5 EV for Waymo’s autonomous driving technology, and these plans include replacing Zeekr vehicles with the Ioniq 5.
However, statements from Waymo and Zeekr indicate that the partnership between the two remains ongoing. “We will decline to comment on speculation, but I can share that we are hard at work validating the sixth-generation Waymo Driver on the Zeekr platform and intend to introduce it into out fleet when ready,” the autonomous ride-hailing company told Reuters in a statement.
There is “no change to the partnership with Waymo,” said Zeekr, who added that the carmaker and the autonomous ride-hailing firm are “actively working together to deploy the vehicles,” the carmaker told Reuters. In July, Waymo parent firm Alphabet said that it had planned a US$5 billion (RM21 billion) investment in Waymo over a multi-year period for its expansion into autonomous ride-hailing.
Meanwhile, “nothing is determined at this stage about new businesses,” the Hyundai Motor Group was quoted as saying, in reference to plans for selling its vehicle to autonomous driving technology companies.
Previously, Waymo purchased vehicles from Stellantis and Jaguar Land Rover for the integration of the autonomous driving firm’s technologies into the vehicles. The firm, along with Cruise, received approval from California in the United States for the operation of self-driving taxis to offer 24-hour, seven-day paid autonomous taxi services.
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