Waymo has been playing Coy for many years on how many Jaguar I EVs there are in the autonomous fleet. This is the number that covers vehicles used in test and commercial Robotaxi operations. On Monday, the alphabet company finally took a peek at the commercial side of the fleet.
Waymo said Monday that more than 1,500 commercial Robotaxis is in operation as part of a bigger announcement. Also, work is underway to expand it through a multi-million dollar investment with Magna to build more than 2,000 autonomous I-pace vehicles at its new Arizona plant.
Waymo has worked with Magna for many years. That means you’re in a now-closed facility in Detroit. The new 239,000-square-foot factory located outside of Mesa’s Phoenix suburbs is strategically located in one of Waymo’s Robotaxi Markets, approaching other service areas in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin.
A Waymo spokesperson told TechCrunch that the company saw elsewhere, but it ultimately brought MESA closer to other markets, making it ideal for the verification process needed before using Robotaxis to the public.
Waymo said in a blog post that announced to the factory that it had received its final delivery from Jaguar earlier this year. From here, contract builders Magna and Waymo take over and integrate the autonomous driving system into the vehicle. Waymo highlighted a new process designed to speed up the usage process from production to verification, noting that AVS can start services directly from facilities.
“In fact, these vehicles can pick up their first public passengers within 30 minutes of leaving the factory,” Waymo said in a blog post. The company said vehicles for other cities could be deployed to public services a few hours after they are shipped to local depots.
The MESA Factory is designed to handle other vehicle platforms, particularly to integrate the sixth generation of Waymo’s autonomous driving systems into the Zeekr RT later this year.
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The factory introduces automated assembly lines and other efficiencies over time, according to the company. The company noted that tens of thousands of fully autonomous Waymo vehicles can be built a year when the plant operates at full capacity.