Renault-Nissan partners with Waymo for driverless vehicle services

Renault, Nissan and Alphabet’s self-driving car business unit Waymo have signed an agreement to explore opportunities in driverless services for passengers and deliveries in France and Japan.

This is the first agreement that Waymo signed with Renault and Nissan. This deal allows Waymo’s technology to be used by the car manufacturers on their driverless vehicles.

Under the agreement, the partners will leverage their mutual strength and work on research commercial, legal and regulatory issues related to autonomous transportation-as-a-service offerings in the two countries.

Renault, Nissan and third alliance partner Mitsubishi represent the top-selling automobiles group worldwide.

Waymo is developing autonomous driving technology. Cars fitted with the company’s technology have travelled more than ten million miles (16 million kilometres) on public roads.

Renault and Nissan plan to establish joint ventures (JV) in their respective home markets to develop driverless mobility services.

In the latest pact, Waymo will not be involved in the operation of such services.  However, an executive of Renault-Nissan alliance was quoted by AFP as saying that Waymo could acquire a stake in these firms.

The three partners will further explore the potential of expanding their cooperation for driverless mobility services in other countries, except China.

Waymo CEO John Krafcik said: “This is an ideal opportunity for Waymo to bring our autonomous technology to a global stage, with an innovative partner.

“With the Alliance’s international reach and scale, our Waymo Driver can deliver transformational mobility solutions to safely serve riders and commercial deliveries in France, Japan, and other countries.”

Groupe Renault CEO Thierry Bolloré said: “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.”

Originally started as Google’s autonomous car project, Waymo began selling its LiDAR sensors in March to customers that are not rivals to its core robotaxi business.