Waymo, the self-driving concern of Google’s parent company Alphabet, has shown any intentions of slowing down after the fatal crash involving an Uber self-driving car. While other companies like NVIDIA and Toyota have suspended tests following the accident as a precautionary move, Waymo is keeping its head down and working toward its goal. According to a new report, the company has yet another self-driving car partnership to announce soon, this time with Japanese auto giant Honda.
Just last week, Waymo announced a premium self-driving electric car with Jaguar called the I-PACE. The sleek SUV has been developed for city-driving, it’s all-electric and fully autonomous. Waymo plans to have up to 20,000 of these SUVs in its self-driving taxi fleet by the next couple of years.
The company’s latest deal, according to the report by Bloomberg, is going to be with Honda. The companies first announced that they were in talks back in late 2016 but they didn’t really say what the scope of a potential partnership could be.
Waymo CEO John Krafcik tells the scribe that this partnership would result in a “traditional car driven on roads.” This suggests that Waymo might be working to co-develop a self-driving vehicle with Honda to tap into the lucrative delivery and logistics market. Krafcik has hinted that the Honda model may be used to move both goods and people, it might be smaller than a truck and may not have a steering wheel.
A spokesman for Honda has said that the auto giant and Waymo are “continuing to explore” the relationship.
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