- Waymo plans to deploy 2,000 more Jaguar I-Pace EVs to its autonomous fleet through 2026, it said on Monday.
- It currently has 1,500 of them.
- Waymo offers driverless rides in San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Austin.
The sleek Jaguar I-Pace hit the streets in 2018 as one of the first modern electric efforts from a company that wasn't Tesla. And even though Jag axed the pioneering model from its lineup last year, Waymo isn't done with it yet.
Alphabet's self-driving taxi company will deploy 2,000 more autonomous I-Paces to its robotaxi service through the end of 2026, it said in a Monday press release. The firm also said it currently has 1,500 of them ferrying passengers around in various U.S. cities, which is notable because Waymo doesn't typically like to talk openly about the size of its fleet.
Bottom line: Waymo is already, far and away, America's leader in commercialized self-driving tech, with actual driverless cars operating in several U.S. cities. And it plans to more than double its fleet of I-Paces by the end of next year.
Waymo said it took its final delivery from Jaguar earlier this year. It will outfit the I-Paces with its autonomous-driving hardware at a new factory in Mesa, Arizona that it announced on Monday.
It operates the facility in partnership with Magna, the contract car manufacturer that assembles such vehicles as the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen and Toyota GR Supra. (It also made the Fisker Ocean, RIP) Up until late 2024, it also made the I-Pace. The facility opened for business last fall and has since ramped up production, a Waymo spokesperson told InsideEVs.
Over time, Magna and Waymo will pump out autonomous vehicles based on other platforms in Mesa. That starts with the Chinese-made Zeekr RT van later this year, Waymo said. Waymo also plans to integrate autonomous Hyundai Ioniq 5 crossovers into its fleet, but a spokesperson declined to share where Waymo will make those. Eventually, Waymo plans to build "tens of thousands" of vehicles per year at the facility, it said on Monday.
“The Waymo Driver integration plant in Mesa is the epicenter of our future growth plans,” Ryan McNamara, Waymo's vice president of operations, said in a statement.
After well over a decade of development, Alphabet's bet on self-driving technology seems to be paying off. Driverless Waymo vehicles now ferry around paying customers in San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Austin. And the service is expanding fast, while rivals either close up shop (General Motors' Cruise) or remain in development purgatory (Tesla).
Waymo says it now logs 250,000 paid rides per week. And it plans to launch service to Atlanta, Washington, D.C. and Miami in 2026.
Got a tip about the EV or AV world? Contact the author: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com
