Slashdot Mirror
Honda-Waymo Talks Are Said To Have Faltered On Tech Access (bloomberg.com)
Honda has reportedly walked away from a deal with Alphabet's Waymo to jointly develop autonomous vehicles earlier this year. Instead, Honda bought into Cruise, the self-driving car startup whose majority shareholder is General Motors. Bloomberg reports on the possible reasons why the deal fell through: For one, Waymo wasn't willing to share the substantial technology it had already developed to run autonomous vehicles, and was seeking to cut a deal that would focus on Honda providing the cars, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be named because the talks were private. Essentially, Waymo wanted to be the brains and have Honda be the brawn in the relationship.
One person familiar with the talks said that Waymo wanted Honda to supply electric vehicles -- an area where the automaker is just beginning to establish itself. All of Waymo's existing partnerships supply EVs or plug-in hybrids because its autonomous driving system needs more power than the puny 12-volt batteries in conventional cars. After starting talks with Honda in late 2016, Honda told Waymo it was working on an EV for the partnership that would compete with Tesla Inc.'s Model 3. But by December of last year, Waymo was concerned about progress toward that goal and Honda went shopping for battery packs to power the vehicle, the person said.
One person familiar with the talks said that Waymo wanted Honda to supply electric vehicles -- an area where the automaker is just beginning to establish itself. All of Waymo's existing partnerships supply EVs or plug-in hybrids because its autonomous driving system needs more power than the puny 12-volt batteries in conventional cars. After starting talks with Honda in late 2016, Honda told Waymo it was working on an EV for the partnership that would compete with Tesla Inc.'s Model 3. But by December of last year, Waymo was concerned about progress toward that goal and Honda went shopping for battery packs to power the vehicle, the person said.
For failing to pay Blat taxes. #Dumbest traitor ever
Rape time! Trump is pro-rape and Kavanaugh makes it legal! I hope Senator Collins gets hers ASAP, BACK A RAPIST AND YOU GET WHAT YOU DESERVE. Totally legal now, rape a Republican today and show them you're a CONSERVATIVE.
Decent car manufacturers are a dime a dozen right now - whereas good autonomous car tech is not. So Waymo would've been silly if they would have given access to their crown jewels just for having a decent mechanical car.
For one, Waymo wasn't willing to share the substantial technology it had already developed to run autonomous vehicles
This shows that the accusation against China forcing American companies to share technologies is exaggerated and made up demonized China to rally support for the American political system and military industrial complex. As seen here, all countries make the same requests. And if an American company doesn't want to share, they can walk away like Waymo. And the foreign partner can just go to another American company that is willing.
There isn't a technical reason a fossil fuel powered vehicle can't supply enough power to run an autonomous vehicle. Even with a "puny 12 volt battery".
The whole statement is cringe worthy. Google only wants to put their autonomous tech into EVs to encourage people to buy more EVs.
Call it for what it is.
Waymo's entire fleet of Chrysler Pacificas are all ICE vehicles so this is obviously bunk.
https://www.job-katta.com/2018...
Exactly what sort of hardware is Waymo stuffing into their vehicles if a typical 1KWh car battery won't power it? Maybe networked Univac-1s running Excel spreadsheets? Not that there isn't room for one or two additional 12v lead-acid batteries in a typical car.
You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
Batteries aren't the issue. There isn't really an issue, it's made up, but if there were it would not be the battery. There's this thing called an alternator that provides power. The battery is used for starting.