Waymo’s plans to expand its robotaxi fleet face new obstacles due to the Biden administration’s trade policies.
The Alphabet-owned company had planned to launch a new robotaxi made by Zeekr, a subsidiary of China’s Geely Holdings. The cars are designed in Sweden (where Geely owns Swedish carmaker Volvo) and adapted from Geely’s all-electric five-door Zeekr. Waymo then equips the car with the hardware and software needed to drive itself. The first batch of new cars began arriving in the United States earlier this year.
But the vehicles could be affected by new restrictive tariffs imposed by the Biden administration aimed at blocking Chinese electric vehicle imports into the United States. The U.S. government said it would impose tariffs on all electric vehicles made in China about four times, from the current 25% to 100%. The tariffs are expected to take effect later this year.
Government says it will roughly quadruple tariffs
In addition, the U.S. Department of Commerce also plans to announce new regulations that prohibit the use of any software originating from China in self-driving and connected cars operating in the United States.
Many products are likely to be affected by new tariffs, but electric vehicles are particularly so. With the share of electric vehicles in China’s total vehicle sales expected to jump from 6% in 2020 to nearly 50% this year, China has quickly become the dominant player in the electrification of the global auto industry.
So far, the current tariffs have effectively blocked most Chinese companies from importing electric vehicles into the United States. But officials are reportedly nervous about the Chinese government’s willingness to subsidize auto manufacturing. China is the world’s largest exporter of cars, although almost none of them end up in the United States.
Waymo is now caught up in trade hostilities between the two countries. The company said it was closely monitoring the situation and insisted that none of its vehicle self-driving software originated in China.
Earlier this year, the first Zeekr-built self-driving cars were spotted in California. Waymo declined to comment on how many vehicles it has imported so far and whether the tariffs will change the number of vehicles the company plans to eventually deploy.
“We are monitoring the tariffs closely,” Waymo spokesman Ethan Teicher said in an email. “We have begun manual public road testing of the sixth-generation Waymo Driver on the Zeekr vehicle platform and have no information regarding its public deployment. Update information.”
As for the Commerce Department’s rule banning self-driving cars from using Chinese software, Teicher said Waymo has taken a similar wait-and-see approach.
“We will be in a better position to consider commenting on the Commerce Department’s rules once they are finalized,” he said. “At this time, it is important to note that our self-driving system, Waymo Driver, is designed and assembled in the United States.”
‘We are monitoring tariffs closely’
Today, Waymo’s fleet consists mainly of Jaguar I-Pace electric crossover SUVs and operates primarily in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix, with Austin to follow. Waymo has about 670 self-driving cars in its fleet, according to documents recently filed as part of a software recall. (Waymo is retiring its Chrysler Pacifica minivan in 2023.)
Cars built by Zeekr were supposed to be a lower-cost option for the company, which has spent billions of dollars over the years. Waymo is also launching robotaxis that do not require traditional controls such as steering wheels and pedals to further reduce costs. (The company needs regulatory approval before deploying fully driverless vehicles on public roads.)
Zeekr vehicles can seat five passengers, making them better suited for larger groups than Waymo’s current fleet. This could help Waymo compete with other human-powered ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft.
But Waymo’s plans to expand into new cities with all-new vehicles may need to be reconsidered if those vehicles are affected by the Biden administration’s tariffs.
