World’s fastest drifting EV joins autonomous taxi fleet of Waymo

Waymo used to be Google’s autonomous car project but over the years it went through many changes. Now under the umbrella of Alphabet Inc. it is an independent autonomous driving technology division.

Since the inception of the autonomous driving project by Google back in 2009, it went through quite a few cars. First was a fleet of Toyota Prius while under management of Google, once Waymo went its own way it switched to Chrysler Pacifica Hybrids. In 2018 Jaguar became the new project partner and it promised a fleet of 20,000 I-Pace SUVs.

It seems Waymo is tired of waiting for Jaguar to deliver all the promised cars because it has signed a new partnership with Geely. Both companies chose the Zeekr 001 to become the base vehicle for Waymo’s autonomous taxi service.

Geely owns many automotive brands with Volvo probably the most prominent one. After buying it from Ford and saving it from oblivion, Geely and Volvo founded together the Lynk & Co which sells electric cars developed together by the two brands. Zeekr on the other hand is basically a rebranded Lynk & Co and the Zeekr 001 is a liftback version of the Lynk & Co 03.

Zeekr 001 is coming to Europe next year and has been really busy with its marketing campaign. It officially holds a Guinness World Record for a fastest drifting EV at 207.99 kph and a fastest EV slalom with 50 cones passed in 49.05 seconds. That’s one way to grab the world’s attention.

The car comes with two electric motors driving all four wheels, combined power output is 536 horsepower and the torque stands at 700 Nm which together is enough to propel the Zeekr 001 from 0 to 100 kph in just 3.8 seconds. Top it up with a claimed range of 435 miles (700 km) and you have a very competitive package. Then comes the price - $60,000.

Now you can understand why Waymo is interested in doing business with Zeekr, the 001 is about the size of Mercedes EQE but comes at just over half the price. It has all the equipment required by Waymo to work autonomously.

The Zeekr 001 is not the car Waymo is getting though, it will only form a base for the upcoming autonomous taxi. Zeekr agreed to remove the B pillar and fit a sliding rear door. Initially first cars will still feature a steering wheel but eventually it will be gone as well.

Waymo has applied to China Certification Corporation to add this new Zeekr based taxi to its fleet. Each vehicle will be re-engineered and will get substantial software and technical upgrades. Initially the cars will be rolled out in China with the US to follow.

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