Waymo wants its driverless cars in Europe, but it could face challenges

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Alphabet’s Waymo hopes to launch the first US self-driving taxi service this year in Phoenix, Arizona, and potentially San Francisco, California. Depending on how these test runs go, Waymo could end up a household name in America. 

Now, we’ve learned that Waymo’s CEO also hopes to expand his company’s driverless taxis to Europe, though it could face stiff competition from local, more mainstream car brands.

John Krafcik, speaking at the Automotive News Europe Congress in Turin, Italy, told the audience that, “There is an opportunity for us at Waymo to experiment here in Europe, with different products and maybe even with different go-to-market strategies,” Reuters first reported. 

Last Friday, Waymo tried out its Fiat Chrysler (FCA) self-driving vans on a private racing track in Italy to impress FCA executives. 

Waymo’s first trip abroad! Thanks @FCAgroup for having us at Balocco Proving Ground in Italy where we gave our first rides outside of the U.S. with no one in the driver seat! pic.twitter.com/wYowSBJZnqJune 6, 2018

“For the first time we brought Waymo technology and demonstrated true Level 4 (autonomy), no humans in the front row, fully autonomous, no safety-net driving, right here in Italy – it was amazing,” Krafcik said.

Waymo executives, including Krafcik, have begun spending more time in the European Union in recent months, which the CEO said was to help the company better understand how the EU’s self-driving regulations differ from US state laws. 

While Waymo currently holds the crown of most reliable self-driving car, it doesn’t enjoy the same name recognition in Europe that it has in the United States. 

And its parent company doesn’t have the best reputation in the EU, having been hit with a €2.4 billion antitrust lawsuit and a €3.7 billion data privacy lawsuit in the past couple of years. 

“It’s probably safe to say the Waymo brand wouldn’t be as strong as some other existing incumbent brands that are already strong in Europe,” Krafcik said on stage. He admitted that, “It’s possible we will take a very different approach here than we would in the US.”

John Krafcik (green shirt) with Waymo employees in Italy this week | Credit: John Krafcik, Twitter

(Image: © Twitter / John Krafcik)

The most likely solution would be to partner with another, more mainstream brand to put Waymo self-driving cars on European roads. 

Waymo has a strong US distribution partnership with FCA and Jaguar; manufacturing began on 62,000 Fiat Chrysler minivans and 20,000 Jaguar I-Pace SUVs earlier this year. But, both partnerships exclusively cover US production, and Krafcik has made no indication that Waymo would partner with either for its European goals. 

One strong potential candidate is its self-driving rival, Uber. Its CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, revealed last week that Uber had begun courting Waymo’s business, hoping to bring its driverless cars into Uber’s self-driving fleet. 

It’s entirely possible that Uber, an official EU taxi service, could provide a means for Waymo to jump into the European market. 

Playing catch-up with tough competition

Waymo is far from the only self-driving company with goals for European expansion. 

It’s not even the only American one. Ford, designer of pizza-delivering self-driving vehicles, began testing its driverless car AI in Europe last year, and aims to launch its taxi service by 2021.

But Waymo’s toughest rivals may come from European car manufacturers that enjoy both name recognition and brand loyalty from the region’s residents. 

VW’s self-parking car at Hamburg Airport | Credit: VW

German automaker VW launched Moia in 2016, an Uber-rivalling taxi service focused on creating self-driving cars and electric shuttles to ease traffic and reduce accidents. Volkswagen already began testing self-parking cars at Hamburg Airport this year, and it’s reportedly partnered with Apple for self-driving employee shuttles. 

BMW also began production on its self-driving car, iNext, in 2016, and aims to launch its own self-driving taxi fleet by 2021. In April, it opened a new R&D facility and campus north of Munich, Germany, where 1,800 employees will work on BMW’s rapidly expanding fleet. 

BMW’s partner, Amber Mobility, uses BMW’s i3 electric SUV for its self-driving fleet, and plans to launch a Zipcar-like service this year in the Netherlands. By 2021, Amber Mobility plans to launch a fully driverless vehicle. 

And, over in Stockholm, Sweden, Volvo is testing driverless cars and buses. 

With so many planned services set to launch in Europe within three years—many of which will be backed by big car brands like BMW and Ford—Waymo and Krafcik are likely wise to seek a European partner. Together, Waymo and its business ally will have a better chance of flourishing in such a crowded field. 

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There will soon be a lot more Waymo self-driving minivans on the road

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Earlier this year, we learned that Waymo, Google parent company Alphabet’s self-driving division, had purchased “thousands” of Pacifica Hybrid minivans from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) to convert into self-driving cars. 

Now, we know the exact number, and it has blown away our expectations of how quickly Waymo plans to expand its fleet. 

CNBC first reported that FCA will produce 62,000 minivans for Waymo at a facility in Novi, Michigan co-run by Waymo and FCA. Thus, FCA can build Waymo’s self-driving sensors and cameras directly into the car’s frame during the manufacturing process. 

As part of this partnership, FCA is also negotiating to license Waymo’s hardware and self-driving AI for its own dealership cars. Eventually, Chrysler could sell self-driving Pacificas directly to consumers. 

Waymo’s 62,000 new vans will accompany its 20,000 new Jaguar I-Pace SUVs planned for the next couple of years. It hopes to officially launch a self-driving ride-hailing service in Phoenix by the end of 2018, and later in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

“We’re excited to deepen our relationship with FCA that will support the launch of our driverless service, and explore future products that support Waymo’s mission,” Waymo CEO John Krafcik told CNBC.

Waymo’s self-driving Jaguar I-Pace SUVs will number less than a third of its Pacifica Hybrid counterparts

FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne also said that, “FCA is committed to bringing self-driving technology to our customers in a manner that is safe, efficient and realistic.” 

Marchionne previously called self-driving tech “fluff” that would take years to mature, in response to criticisms that FCA hadn’t invested enough money in researching the fledgling industry. 

Evidently, Marchionne and FCA decided that leasing self-driving tech from the most reliable self-driving company will save the company the challenge of developing a costly system from scratch. 

Driving forward at top speed

Waymo isn’t letting its recent accident controversy get in the way of its AI taxi ambitions. 

With over 80,000 cars in its fleet in the near future, Waymo will continue to add to its 6 million miles of testing on public roads, testing that should boost the performance of its self-driving AI.

Waymo will certainly have competition. Earlier today, GM announced that its Cruise division will aim to launch a similar self-driving taxi service in 2019. The company will try to improve its AI by placing its Chevy Volts in downtown Manhattan’s hectic streets.  

On the other hand, Waymo’s new partnership could help it seize a new opportunity to make a bitter rival a partner. 

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi revealed on Wednesday that Uber had opened “discussions” with Waymo to use its self-driving cars for Uber’s own ride-hailing service. 

Uber’s recent fatal accident, which the US National Transportation Safety Board recently released its initial report on, may have convinced Uber to work with its competitor’s tech instead. 

Several questions arise from this news. Namely, will Waymo want to provide its tech to a taxi service that will likely compete with its own ride-hailing business? We’ll likely hear more about these negotiations in the near future.

Ironically, Uber and FCA may end up at odds over how Waymo’s tech should be used. 

Uber, Lyft and other self-driving companies released a joint statement earlier this year stating that self-driving cars should only operate in company-owned fleets—meaning that consumers shouldn’t be able to buy their own autonomous vehicles. 

Chrysler, which intends to sell directly to consumers, may have to lobby against Uber and others to ensure that governments allow this option. 

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