Fiat Chrysler is supplying Google’s self-driving division, Waymo, with “thousands” of Chrysler Pacifica minivans for testing on public roasts. Waymo already has a fleet of 600 FCA vehicles, which were supplied after the two companies formed a partnership in 2016. The fleet already includes vehicles capable of fully self-driving thanks to Waymo’s autonomous driving systems were installed.

John Krafcik, CEO of Waymo, said, “With the world's first fleet of fully self-driving vehicles on the road, we've moved from research and development to operations and deployment. These additional vehicles will help us scale.”

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Waymo’s plans of scaling up to a large-scale fleet of autonomous ride-hailing vehicles are seemingly getting closer thanks to FCA’s major contribution of Chrysler Pacifica minivans. Automotive News reports the vans are specifically designed to integrate with Waymo’s proprietary hardware and software.

This doesn’t appear to be a pipe dream, either. Back in November of 2017, Waymo stated it would begin removing safety driver from its small-scale ride-hailing fleet in Chandler, Arizona. That means a Pacifica can arrive at your location by request without a driver behind the wheel. Testing on public roads without drivers is already taking place in 25 U.S. cities, including San Francisco, Detroit, and Atlanta.

Many industry analysts predict ride-hailing services and shared vehicles will be the extremely prevalent in the future, with individual vehicle ownership decreasing dramatically. Autonomous vehicles are an integral part of that prediction and it seems the chips are falling into place.

References

Chrysler Pacifica

Read our full review on the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica.

Read our full driven review on the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid.