Stellantis, the automaker that owns 14 brands including Chrysler, Jeep and Ram, and self-driving technology company Waymo are not only still working together, but the companies are deepening their partnership, CEO Carlos Tavares said in a recent interview with TechCrunch.
This “deepened” partnership will focus on commercial autonomous Ram delivery trucks, a goal first announced in 2020 and promptly erased from the public eye. Discussions about this “enhanced” deal have focused, in part, on an issue surrounding driverless delivery: how does the package get from the vehicle to the customer?
“When you arrive at the destination, how do you get the package off the truck?” Tavares said in a wide-ranging interview. “This has been a point of discussion that does not seem easy to resolve and we are now upgrading our partnership agreement with them to take this into account.”
“At the same time, we understand their needs and there are a lot of things we can do for them from an engineering perspective,” he said, adding that it was too early to share details. “But I would say the partnership with Waymo goes deeper. And I think, more exciting.”
Tavares played coy about the important details of what, where and when. But he added that he expected to be able to share more “probably by the summer.”
A Waymo spokesperson confirmed that the company continues to look for ways to deepen its relationship with Stellantis, but did not share any other details or whether progress has been made.
Tavares’ comments suggest the company has more than a passing interest in reviving a deal
which seemed destined to fizzle out like so many other autonomous vehicle-OEM partnerships over the past couple of years.
Even if the two companies strike a broader deal, there’s still the very real challenge of executing it.
Waymo, which is owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, currently does not operate a commercial delivery service using its self-driving vehicles. Last summer, it shut down its self-driving truck program, Waymo Via, to devote all its resources to scaling up its robotaxi service.
In May 2023, Waymo and Uber agreed to a multi-year strategic partnership to allow Uber users to enjoy a driverless vehicle through the app in Phoenix. That deal included a future plan for delivery through Uber Eats, but as of today it hasn’t gone live, according to a Waymo spokesperson.
The two companies have been partners since 2016, when a deal was struck to supply Waymo with thousands of customized Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans that would become the first self-driving vehicles on the market.
Under the deal, Fiat Chrysler — now known as Stellantis — would build and supply Waymo with minivans built into surplus vehicles designed for autonomous driving.
Waymo never came close to the 62,000 minivan order it agreed to in 2018 as part of an expanded partnership with Fiat Chrysler. Hundreds, if not thousands, of minivans have been delivered to Waymo. However, the minivan became a critical part of its merchandising plan, and over its lifetime the fleet provided tens of thousands of rides to the public, according to the company. (Waymo has never disclosed details of its minivan fleet, other than that its total global fleet is about 700 vehicles.)
Waymo ended the Chrysler Pacifica program in May 2023. Today, its robotaxi service uses fully electric Jaguar I-Pace vehicles.
