Volvo engages Waymo as its exclusive Level 4 partner in new ride-hailing EV project

Waymo has been at the forefront of autonomous vehicle development for a couple of years now, with its various pilot programs showing great promise in places like Arizona. Waymo has been using mostly minivans and a few models for this, but that could be changing.

Volvo Car Group (which includes Polestar and Lynk & Co) and Waymo announced on Thursday that they'd be partnering on a new electric vehicle platform aimed at ride-hailing customers. The platform's vehicles would be capable of SAE Level 4 autonomy -- aka no driver engagement while in a geofenced area or under a specific set of road, weather and traffic conditions.

"Fully autonomous vehicles have the potential to improve road safety to previously unseen levels and to revolutionize the way people live, work and travel," Henrik Green, chief technology officer at Volvo Car Group, said in a statement. "Our global partnership with Waymo opens up new and exciting business opportunities for Volvo Cars, Polestar and Lynk & Co."

"This key partnership with Volvo Car Group helps pave the path to the deployment of the Waymo Driver abroad in years to come, and represents an important milestone in the highly competitive autonomous vehicle industry," said Waymo chief automotive officer Adam Frost. "Volvo Car Group shares our vision of creating an autonomous future where roads are safer, and transportation is more accessible and greener. We're thrilled to welcome Volvo Car Group as our latest automotive partner."

We're excited to see Waymo's tech get out into the world through this partnership with Volvo, so more people can experience it.

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