Waymo, Fiat Chrysler Form Deep Partnership to Get Self-Driving Cars and Trucks to Market

Alan Ohnsman

Waymo is forming a broad partnership with Fiat Chrysler to get self-driving cars, pickups and SUVs to market and will focus on developing robotic Ram-brand light commercial vehicles. It’s the Alphabet GOOGL + 0.6% Inc. unit’s biggest partnership to date as alliances reshape the autonomous tech race.

The move upgrades a relationship that started four years ago when Waymo began buying hundreds of Pacifica hybrid minivans for road tests and to serve as the main vehicle for its early-stage robotaxi service in suburban Phoenix. FCA now says it’s working exclusively with Waymo on Level-4 self-driving tech for all its brands, including Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Fiat and Ram, and will integrate its software, computers and sensors into Ram commercial vans for use by the new Waymo Via autonomous logistics service. The companies aren’t sharing financial details related to the partnership and won’t say if it involves PSA Group, which is merging with FCA.

“FCA was our first OEM partner, and we’ve come a long way together,” Waymo CEO John Krafcik said. “Together, we’ll introduce the Waymo Driver throughout the FCA brand portfolio, opening up new frontiers for ride-hailing, commercial delivery and personal-use vehicles around the world.”

The new alliance comes a month after Waymo said it would work with Volvo Cars to integrate its technology into a “mobility-focused electric vehicle platform for ride-hailing services,” a year after it launched an evaluation of driverless mobility services in France with the Renault Nissan Group and as it adds autonomous Jaguar I-Pace electric SUVs to its growing U.S. fleet. Automotive partnerships are crucial to Waymo’s future as it prepares to compete with robotaxi and logistics rivals ranging from General Motors GM +0.6% – and Honda-backed Cruise, Ford – and Volkswagen-aligned Argo AI and the Hyundai-Kia group’s tie-up with Aptiv APTV +1%. Now Amazon AMZN - 1.2% plans to enter the fray by buying startup Zoox.

As the largest and most mature player in the self-driving space, launching the first public tests a decade ago as the Google Self-Driving Car Project, Waymo’s headstart toward commercializing the technology is substantial. No company has racked up more on-road or virtual autonomous test miles; Waymo launched the first public robotaxi service in the U.S. about two years ago; and it recently raised $3 billion from outside investors to aid operations – on top of billions of dollars invested by parent Alphabet. But holding that lead won’t be easy as rivals such as Cruise and Argo aim to overtake it in ride-hailing or specialized startups like TuSimple and Nuro limit their focus to perfecting robotic trucking and delivery services.

Last year Fiat Chrysler and Aurora, a Silicon Valley autonomous tech startup led by former Google Self-Driving Car Project chief Chris Urmson, announced plans to study automated delivery vehicles. “This investigation has now been completed with the decision made to discontinue discussions,” FCA spokesman Nick Cappa tells Forbes.

He declined to say how many Ram vans Waymo may purchase under the new partnership, but FCA CEO Mike Manley sees that as a key project.

“With this next step, deepening our relationship with the very best technology partner in this space, we’re turning to the needs of our commercial customers by jointly enabling self-driving for light commercial vehicles, starting with the Ram ProMaster,” Manley said. “Adding Waymo’s commitment to partner with us to deploy its L4 fully autonomous technology across our entire product portfolio, our partnership is setting the pace for the safe and sustainable mobility solutions that will help define the automotive world in the years and decades to come.”