Waymo Gearing Up

Waymo will order up to 62,000 plug-in hybrid minivans from Chrysler for its driverless ride-hailing service. Waymo already has 600 such minivans that it is testing in Austin, Phoenix, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

The 62,000 Chryslers are on top of the 20,000 electric cars that Waymo announced in March that it was planning to buy from Jaguar. Waymo says it expects to have all of these vehicles fully deployed by 2022 at the latest.

In 2012, before ride-hailing services put a major dent in the taxi market, the United States had about 240,000 taxis nationwide. Waymo’s orders would replace more than a third of them. Of course, driverless ride-hailing should cost enough less than taxis that they should be far more popular. To replace all taxis and transit, driverless ride-hailing services would need about 800,000 vehicles. Since many people with cars are likely to give them up for driverless ride-hailing, the market is likely to be much larger than that.

Chrysler’s seven-passenger plug-in hybrid minivan is a probably a better choice for Waymo’s service than the five-seater Jaguar. The plug-in batteries can power the car for only about 33 miles and then it runs on gasoline, but even on gasoline it gets nearly 50 percent better mileage than an ordinary minivan. The Jaguar’s range is about 220 miles, after which it takes a couple of hours to charge the batteries. The Chrysler’s list price is also less than two-thirds that of the fully electric car.

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As sold to the public today, Chrysler’s minivan optionally comes with at least fourteen different sensors to detect other vehicles, pedestrians, and other objects on the road. These include a large radar sensor hidden in the grill, a dozen high-frequency sensors — four in front, four in back, and two on each side — to measure proximity to other objects, and a back-up camera. While the back-up camera probably isn’t tied into the car’s computer, the other sensors can all lead the car to override the driver to turn or brake the car to avoid collisions.

Note this is a 360-degree video; use the control at upper left to rotate the view.

As made for Waymo, the car also has three LIDAR (laser) sensors, at least two more radar sensors, and several more optical cameras. Presumably, Chrysler is ready to install all of these at the factory as the cost of adding them to 62,000 cars after the cars were manufactured would be prohibitive.

General Motors has promised to begin fully driverless ride-hailing service in 2019. Ford, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Volvo, and many other companies also have advanced programs. But Waymo has a huge head-start, and many smaller auto manufacturers such as Mazda and Subaru are likely to end up licensing technology from Waymo or another company before they develop their own.

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About The Antiplanner

The Antiplanner is a forester and economist with more than fifty years of experience critiquing government land-use and transportation plans.

4 Responses to Waymo Gearing Up

  1. the highwayman says:

    It’s rather ironic that people in prison don’t have to worry about paying bills :$

  2. CapitalistRoader says:

    In 2012, before ride-hailing services put a major dent in the taxi market, the United States had about 240,000 taxis nationwide. Waymo’s orders would replace more than a third of them.

    Wow! And in only three year’s time. A pretty radical change. I can’t wait to ride in one of them.

  3. prk166 says:


    Since many people with cars are likely to give them up for driverless ride-hailing, the market is likely to be much larger than that.

    Why would they give them up? You can get a $100 smart phone. I don’t know anyone who’s given up their iPhone for one of those less expensive models. It’s a possibility but it is not likely.

  4. CapitalistRoader says:

    Why would they give them up?

    Because driving is tedious and boring and owning a car is expensive?

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