FCA and Waymo Further Expand Autonomous Driving Technology Partnership and Sign Exclusive Agreement for Light Commercial Vehicles

Rhea-AI Summary

FCA and Waymo have expanded their partnership, establishing Waymo as FCA's exclusive L4 autonomous technology partner. This collaboration aims to integrate the Waymo Driver into FCA's Ram ProMaster light commercial vehicle for goods movement, addressing the needs of commercial delivery customers. Waymo commits to deploying its L4 technology across FCA's entire product portfolio, building on a successful four-year partnership. This initiative positions FCA at the forefront of autonomous mobility solutions and aims to enhance services for commercial clients.

Positive

• Waymo will integrate its L4 Driver into the Ram ProMaster, targeting commercial delivery needs.
• Waymo is now FCA's exclusive partner for L4 autonomous technology across its entire vehicle lineup.

Negative

• None.

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., July 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --

• L4 Waymo Driver to be integrated into FCA's Ram ProMaster light commercial vehicle for goods movement, enabling the partnership to address specific needs of commercial customers
• FCA has selected Waymo as its exclusive, strategic partner for L4 autonomous technology, with Waymo committing to deploy its L4 autonomous technology across FCA's full product portfolio

FCA and Waymo announced today that they have taken the next significant steps in the expansion of their successful autonomous driving technology partnership.

Waymo will now work exclusively with FCA as its preferred partner for the development and testing of class 1-3 light commercial vehicles for goods movement for commercial delivery customers, including Waymo Via. The two companies will initially target integration of the Waymo Driver into the Ram ProMaster van, a highly configurable platform that will enable access to a broad range of global commercial customers. This partnership will allow FCA and Waymo to leverage their respective strengths and competencies to determine how to effectively use autonomy to address the specific needs of commercial customers given the rapid growth of goods delivery services.

FCA also has selected Waymo as its exclusive, strategic partner for L4 autonomous technology across the FCA fleet and 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. 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," said Mike Manley, Chief Executive Officer, FCA. "Adding Waymo's commitment to partner with us to deploy its L4 fully autonomous technology across our entire product portfolio, our partnership is setting the pace for the safe and sustainable mobility solutions that will help define the automotive world in the years and decades to come."

"FCA was our first OEM partner and we've come a long way together," said John Krafcik, Chief Executive Officer, Waymo. "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. 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."

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 and have made self-driving history in the proven, capable, L4-ready Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan. This partnership has led to the first commercial autonomous ride-hailing service, including the offering of fully driverless service to riders, as well as driving in dozens of cities across diverse geographies and challenging weather conditions.

FCA
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is a global automaker that designs, engineers, manufactures and sells vehicles in a portfolio of exciting brands, including Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Fiat Professional, Jeep®, Lancia, Ram and Maserati. It also sells parts and services under the Mopar name and operates in the components and production systems sectors under the Comau and Teksid brands. FCA employs nearly 200,000 people around the globe. For more details regarding FCA (NYSE: FCAU/ MTA: FCA), please visit www.fcagroup.com. 

Waymo
Waymo is a self-driving technology company with a mission to make it safe and easy for people and things to get where they're going. Since our start as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, Waymo has been focused on building the World's Most Experienced Driver in hopes of improving the world's access to mobility while saving thousands of lives now lost to traffic crashes. Our Waymo Driver powers Waymo One, our autonomous ride-hailing service, as well as Waymo Via, our trucking and local delivery service. To date, Waymo has driven over 20 million miles autonomously on public roads across 25 U.S. cities and conducted over 15 billion miles of simulation testing. For more: www.waymo.com

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are based on the FCA Group's current expectations and projections about future events and, by their nature, are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. They relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur or exist in the future and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on them. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in such statements as a result of a variety of factors, including: volatility and deterioration of capital and financial markets, including possibility of new Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, changes in commodity prices, changes in general economic conditions, economic growth and other changes in business conditions, weather, floods, earthquakes or other natural disasters, changes in government regulation, production difficulties, including capacity and supply constraints, and many other risks and uncertainties, most of which are outside of the FCA Group's control.

For more information, please visit the FCA US LLC media site at http://media.fcanorthamerica.com.

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SOURCE FCA

FAQ

What new partnership has FCA entered into with Waymo?

FCA has expanded its partnership with Waymo, selecting it as the exclusive L4 autonomous technology partner.

What vehicle will feature the Waymo Driver for commercial use?

The Waymo Driver will be integrated into the FCA Ram ProMaster light commercial vehicle.

How does the FCA-Waymo partnership impact the stock FCAU?

The partnership could enhance FCA's market position in autonomous vehicle technology, potentially influencing FCAU stock positively.

What are the goals of the FCA and Waymo collaboration?

The collaboration aims to address the specific needs of commercial customers by incorporating autonomy into goods movement.

When was the partnership between FCA and Waymo initially formed?

FCA became Waymo's first OEM partner in 2016.