Google’s Waymo reveals first images of autonomous Pacifica minivans

Just weeks after unveiling Waymo as the next step in its autonomous journey, Google has released images of modified Chrysler Pacifica minivans.

Speculation around Google’s driverless ambitions have been circulating for quite some time, as the company released tidbits of information on the project every few months.

Over the course of the past year however, the announcements seem to be coming more frequently. This year alone, Google announced a partnership with Fiat Chrysler to outfit the Pacifica Minivan with the latest in autonomous technology, commenced partnerships with several auto manufacturers, and split off its autonomous vehicle development unit into its own company under Alphabet.

While the news of the Chrysler partnership broke this past May, the department split came to light over the past few weeks. Waymo will be headed by John Krafcik, the former head of Google’s autonomous vertical, and will focus solely on developing self-driving cars.

This past May, Google committed to put 100 self-driving Pacificas on the road. The tech giant confirms the pledge with its most recent announcement and shares a first look at the completed vehicles. The latest announcement from the Google spinoff includes images of modified Chrysler Pacifica minivans outfitted with autonomous technology.

This news comes just after rumours surfaced that Google might be scaling back its autonomous dreams to include just the software included in a driverless vehicle.

According to a statement posted by Google, production on the vehicles will begin this coming October and are aiming to have them on the road by 2017.

[source]Waymo[/source]