Waymo to convert more than 2,000 units of Jaguar I-Pace to autonomous taxis at Arizona, US factory

Waymo is set to be converting over 2,000 units of the Jaguar I-Pace for fully autonomous operation in its ride-hailing fleet, the autonomous vehicle firm has announced. This will be carried out at the Waymo Driver integration plant in Mesa, Arizona in the United States, in partnership with contract manufacturer Magna.

This will add to Waymo’s current fleet of 1,500 vehicles, and the aforementioned 2,000 units of the I-Pace is a final delivery from Jaguar, before the model was discontinued following the British marque’s rebranding.

According to Autocar, the conversion involves the retrofitting of hardware for autonomous driving, which consists of a roof-mounted lidar, radar sensors and 29 cameras, as well as the Waymo Driver autonomous driving software.

Once the facility is running at full capacity, it will be capable of converting “tens of thousands” of vehicles to become Waymo autonomous vehicles per year, Waymo said. After the assembly of autonomous Jaguar I-Pace units for the service is completed, the Waymo Driver software will be applied to conversions of new cars, such as the Zeekr RT, a Waymo-specific version of the Zeekr Mix.

“The Waymo Driver integration plant in Mesa is the epicentre of our future growth plans. With our partners at Magna, we’ve opened a manufacturing site that enables the cost efficiency, flexibility, and capacity to scale our fleet to new heights,” said Waymo VP of operations Ryan McNamara.

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