Waymo announces partnership with Renault and Nissan to explore all aspects of driverless mobility services for transportation and deliveries in France and Japan

Waymo LLC, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., stands for a new way forward in mobility by entering into a consortium with Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. With this partnership, Waymo will pursue development of self-driving systems for a range of vehicles that will carry both passengers and haul packages. The companies aim to collaborate for development of vehicle technology that will be deployed in France and Japan. This partnership enables Waymo to expand beyond North America for the very first time. Nothing has been cleared by the companies about the timeline of this partnership. For now, the companies are focusing only on research activities. They are researching on commercial, legal and regulatory issues.

CEO of Renault stated that, “The story of tomorrow’s mobility will be jointly written, with the cooperation of the alliance with Waymo, as industry leaders, opening new perspectives for driverless mobility services. We believe this partnership will accelerate our commitment to deliver new shared mobility services and benefit the automobile ecosystems by placing us at the forefront of driverless mobility new business streams in our key strategic markets.”

CEO of Nissan said, “As we continue our work through the mid-term plan – Nissan M.O.V.E 2022 – to evolve business in order to meet changing consumer behavior, Nissan aims to be an early provider of driverless mobility service. Our expertise in the global automotive industry and expertise in strategic partnership will enable us to explore opportunities to grow our portfolio and deliver new value to customers with Waymo, the recognized leader in this space.”

According to TechSci Research, this is an ideal opportunity for Waymo to bring their autonomous technology to the global platform. Waymo is already using vehicles from Jaguar and Chrysler for its autonomous fleet, but now for the first time the company is working on specific services and this is its first commercial project outside the US. Previously, the company tested automotive services with Walmart. Factors such as growing demand for connected cars using Internet of Things, initiatives taken by the governments for pushing the growth of self-driving car and increasing focus of OEMs on enhancing vehicle safety are attributing to the growth of the autonomous vehicle market through 2024, globally.

According to a published report by TechSci Research, “North America Semi & Fully Autonomous Vehicle Market By Automation Level (L0, L1, L2, etc), By Component (Embedded System, Camera, etc), By Vehicle Type (Passenger Car & Commercial Vehicle), By Country, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2016-2030”, North America semi & fully autonomous vehicle market stood at $ 1.7 billion in 2016 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 22% to cross $ 26 billion by 2030. According to a study by the Department of Transportation, United States, majority of the road accidents are caused due to human error, and semi & fully autonomous vehicles significantly eliminate this risk due to various safety features integrated in these vehicles. Additionally, growing interest of technology giants such as Google, Intel, etc., towards autonomous vehicles is encouraging companies worldwide to focus on this automobile segment.

According to another published report by TechSci Research, “Asia-Pacific Semi & Fully Autonomous Vehicle Market By Automation Level (L0, L1, L2, L3, etc.), By Component (Embedded System, Camera, etc.), By Vehicle Type (Passenger Car & Commercial Vehicle), By Country, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2030”, Asia-Pacific semi & fully autonomous vehicle market stood at around $ 1 billion in 2016 is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 20% to surpass $ 16 billion by 2030. Almost all the leading automobile manufacturers are working towards enhancing safety features in their vehicles. Furthermore, governments of different countries are focusing on boosting development and adoption of new technologies in automotive industry, which is likely to positively influence Asia-Pacific semi & fully autonomous vehicle market in the coming years. Additionally, rising number of road accidents is further likely to propel demand for autonomous vehicles as they can reduce the risk of collision significantly.