Waymo and Jaguar Land Rover Announce Partnership, with Self-Driving I-PACE

All-electric Jaguar I-PACE will be the first premium self-driving electric vehicle in Waymo’s fleet.

Jaguar Land Rover and Waymo have announced a long-term strategic partnership. Together, the two companies will develop the world’s first premium self-driving electric vehicle for Waymo’s driverless transportation service.

If that name sounds familiar, it should. Waymo is Google’s self-driving car project come to fruition, and they are serious about the effort. Jaguar Land Rover and Waymo will work together to design and engineer self-driving Jaguar I-PACE vehicles. This long-term strategic collaboration will further goals set by both Waymo and Jaguar Land Rover. In short, the goal is to make cars safer, free up people’s time and improve mobility for everyone.

Waymo Jaguar I-PACE vehicles, equipped with Waymo’s self-driving technology, will start testing later this year. On-road testing and capturing real-world data, will allow Waymo and Jaguar Land Rover engineers to refine technology and deliver optimum safety and reliability. Up to 20,000 I-PACE vehicles will be built in the first two years of production and be available for riders of Waymo’s driverless service. The math suggests that they could be serving a potential one million trips per day.

The Jaguar I-PACE was launched earlier this month and is the company’s first full-electric SUV. It is all-new from the ground up and looks to be a desirable and practical electric performance car. Jaguar Land Rover is committed to investing heavily, becoming automotive leaders in autonomous, connected and future electrified technologies.

ALSO SEE: Jaguarforums Exclusive: Jaguar I-PACE Walkaround

To date, Waymo is the only company with a fleet of fully self-driving cars — with no one in the front seat — on public roads. Later this year Waymo will launch the world’s first self-driving transportation service allowing the public to use Waymo’s app to request a vehicle.

Keep your eyes peeled as you’re driving around: you just might see a Waymo Jaguar I-PACE doing some autonomous testing. Or, in the very near future, you might see that same I-PACE giving passengers a ride to their next destination.

Jake Stumph

Jake Stumph is a lifelong car enthusiast and racer, and former content editor for Internet Brands Automotive which he joined in 2015. His work has been featured by several other prominent automotive outlets, including Jalopnik and Autobytel.

He obtained a bachelor's degree in Political Science at the Ohio State University in 2013, then pivoted from covering politics and policy to writing about his automotive adventures, something that, he says, is a lot more fun. Since that time, he has established connections with most of the world's major automakers, as well as other key brands in the automotive industry.

He enjoys track days, drifting, and autocross, at least, when his cars are running right, which is uncommon.

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