Waymo’s Ioniq 5 Self-Driving Role in the Autonomous Sector: Status and Future Directions

The business of Waymo is a lot more busy than that of those firms. 100,000 paid trips a week is a big milestone for the company.

This won’t be the first self-driving rodeo for the Ioniq 5. The vehicle also serves as a platform for Motional, which is Hyundai’s robotaxi subsidiary, as well as Avride, which used to be Yandex’s self-driving group.

It is not clear how many Ioniq 5s will be sold by Waymo in contrast to previous vehicle announcements. Some of this could be attributable to the fact that Waymo has grown more cautious about overly optimistic predictions after critics panned the AV industry for setting unrealistic deadlines.

The partnership with Chinese-owned automakers is still on, despite the fact that it has been severed. The roomier minivans built for the Alphabet subsidiary have been less expensive to build than the standard minivans. The Zeekr vehicle officially made its debut in San Francisco in June, though Waymo says it’s still in testing and is not yet part of its public ride-hail fleet.

One of the most important metrics of robotaxis is the amount of time it takes to ferry passengers. Time spent plugged into a charger is time not making money. The ioniq 5 has a range of 300 miles and an 800-volt architecture that enhances its charging speed. When plugged into a 350kW fast charger, Hyundai says the Ioniq 5 can charge from 10–80 percent in just 18 minutes, depending on the conditions. As a benefit, those charging speeds have been seen by Waymo as a benefit.

The Metaplant factory in Georgia is nearing its end of construction and will be used for the production of vehicles intended for Waymo’s fleet. In a press release, the companies said they have agreed to produce a number of Waymo-equipped electric cars there in significant volume over multiple years.

Disabled Chinese-Inspired Autonomous Vehicles: The United States Approach to the Problem of National Security and Product Liability in Electrical and Electronic Engineering

The US government argued that cars with Chinese-made software and hardware could have a long-term national security issue. “Imagine if there were thousands or hundreds of thousands of Chinese-connected vehicles on American roads that could be immediately and simultaneously disabled by somebody in Beijing,” US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said earlier this year.

One of its research and development facilities is in Sweden, but the company is owned by a Chinese company. The Swedish city is also the headquarters of majority Geely-owned automakers Volvo and Polestar, an all-electric premium automaker.