FCA and Waymo are developing an autonomous Ram ProMaster van, and will work together for the development of commercial vehicles for goods movement for commercial delivery customers.  -  Photo: FCA

FCA and Waymo are developing an autonomous Ram ProMaster van, and will work together for the development of commercial vehicles for goods movement for commercial delivery customers.

Photo: FCA

FCA and Waymo are developing an autonomous Ram ProMaster van, and will work together to Develop Class 1-3 light commercial vehicles for goods movement for commercial delivery customers.

The two plan to initially target integration of the Waymo Driver into the ProMaster van, which will enable access to a broad range of commercial customers, the companies announced. This new development includes Waymo Via, the company’s trucking and local delivery service.

This partnership will allow FCA and Waymo to leverage their respective strengths to determine how to effectively use autonomy to address the needs of commercial customers given the rapid growth of goods delivery services, they announced.

FCA also has selected Waymo as its exclusive, strategic partner for Level 4 fully autonomous technology across the FCA fleet. It has already started to work with Waymo to imagine future FCA products for the movement of people and goods operated by the Waymo Driver. 

“Our now four-year partnership with Waymo continues to break new ground. By incorporating the Waymo Driver, the world’s leading self-driving technology, into our Pacifica minivans, we became the only partnership actually deploying fully autonomous technology in the real world, on public roads," said Mike Manley, CEO of FCA. "With this next step, deepening our relationship with the very best technology partner in this space, we’re turning to the needs of our commercial customers by jointly enabling self-driving for light commercial vehicles, starting with the Ram ProMaster."

FCA became Waymo’s first OEM partner in 2016. Since then, the two companies have worked closely to integrate the Waymo Driver into FCA vehicles.

“The Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans were the first vehicles in our Waymo One fleet and, guided by the Waymo Driver, have now safely and reliably driven more fully autonomous miles than any other vehicle on the planet,” said John Krafcik, CEO, Waymo. “Today, we’re expanding our partnership with FCA with the Waymo Driver as the exclusive L4 autonomy solution for this global automotive company. Together, we’ll introduce the Waymo Driver throughout the FCA brand portfolio, opening up new frontiers for ride-hailing, commercial delivery and personal-use vehicles around the world.”

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