Waymo's Robotaxi Fleet Expansion Hindered by US Tariffs on Chinese EVs
On August 13th, it was reported that Waymo's plan to expand its robotaxi fleet has encountered a new obstacle due to the US government's imposition of temporary tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.
Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet, originally planned to launch a new type of self-driving taxi produced by Geely's subsidiary Zeekr. These vehicles were designed in Sweden and involved Geely's Volvo. Waymo is responsible for installing the necessary self-driving hardware and software on these vehicles. Earlier this year, the first batch of new cars began to arrive in the US陆续.
However, these vehicles may be affected by the new restrictive tariffs set by the Biden administration, which aims to prevent Chinese electric vehicles from entering the US market. The US government previously stated that it plans to increase the tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles from the current 25% to 100%, and this measure is expected to take effect later this year.
In addition, The US Department of Commerce plans to announce new regulations prohibiting the use of Chinese software in self-driving and connected cars operating in the US.
Multiple products may be affected by the new tariffs, especially electric vehicles. It is expected that this year, the share of Chinese-made electric vehicles in total car sales will jump from 6% in 2020 to nearly 50%, and China has rapidly become the dominant force in the electrification of the global automotive industry.
Waymo now says that it is closely following the development of the situation and also insists that the self-driving software of its vehicles does not come from China.
Earlier this year, the first self-driving car made by Zeekr made its debut in California for the first time. Waymo refused to disclose how many such cars have been imported so far and whether the tariff will change the number of vehicles the company ultimately plans to deploy.
We are closely following the tariff issue, Waymo spokesman Ethan Teicher said in an email. We have started on-road manual driving tests on the sixth-generation WaymoDriver on the Zeekr vehicle platform, and there is no new news about its public deployment for now.
As for the regulation of the US Department of Commerce prohibiting the use of Chinese software in self-driving cars, Teicher said that Waymo is taking a wait-and-see attitude.
Only when the regulations of the Department of Commerce are finally determined can we consider making a comment, he said. Now it is worth noting that our self-driving system, WaymoDriver, is designed and assembled in the US.
Today, Waymo's fleet mainly consists of Jaguar I-Pace electric crossover SUVs, which are mainly operated in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, and will soon be online in Austin. According to a recently submitted software recall document, there are approximately 670 driverless cars in Waymo's fleet.
The vehicle made by Zeekr was originally a low-cost option for Waymo, and the company's expenditures have accumulated to billions of dollars over the years. Waymo also proposed the possibility that the new self-driving taxis may not have traditional control devices such as steering wheels and pedals to further reduce costs. (However, the company needs to obtain regulatory approval before putting fully driverless vehicles on public roads.)
Compared with Waymo's current self-driving cars, Zeekr vehicles can carry 5 passengers. This may help Waymo compete with human-driven ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft.
But if these vehicles are affected by the U S government's imposition of tariffs, Waymo may need to reconsider its plan to expand to new cities with brand-new vehicles.