It is very unusual that “A MINIVAN” become the show stopper in any Auto Show. But last Sunday that happened. In Detroit Auto Show “A MINIVAN” catches everyone's eye.
The van, designed by Google, grabbed the spotlight on Sunday, the first day of press previews at the show. The vehicle’s introduction highlighted the industry’s fascination with autonomous driving vehicles, as well as the rising sway of the technology industry in the auto business.
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, spun off its driverless car project last month. The new business, called Waymo, is considered a sign that the company is ready to commercialise a decade of research and development of a vehicle operated solely by computer.
The van shown on Sunday is the first fruit of those labours.
In many ways, it looks like a conventional minivan. But it is also equipped with the self-driving sensors and vision systems developed by Waymo, some of which protrude from its body.
That combination is telling. The van was built by the Detroit automaker Fiat Chrysler, making it the first heavyweight collaboration between a major automaker and one of Silicon Valley’s elite. And it shows how Waymo, widely considered the leader in autonomous driving technology, hopes to sell its self-driving systems to car companies unwilling to bear all the costs of developing vehicles.
Some automakers, like General Motors and Ford Motor, have committed to creating their own driverless cars. Both companies recently announced plans to build their first fully autonomous vehicles at factories in Michigan.
But Google is intent on offering another option to automakers by creating a ready-made package of self-driving equipment that can be integrated into mainstream vehicles.
The chief executive of Waymo, John Krafcik, said on Sunday that the company had sharply reduced the cost of producing the radars and other high-tech components needed to achieve fully autonomous driving.
“We’ve brought all of our self-driving sensors in-house,” Mr Krafcik said. “It’s all designed and built from the ground up by Waymo, with every part manufactured with one goal in mind: to safely handle the complex task of full autonomy.”
By doing so, Waymo is positioning itself as a mega-supplier to the industry, and a turnkey solution to transforming conventional cars into driverless models.
Source: - The New York Times
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