Autonomous Nissan Leaf Waymo agreed to explore driverless services with Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi, pairing a leader in self-driving technology with the worlds largest automotive alliance.The three carmakers and Alphabet Inc.s autonomous-vehicle unit will study market opportunities and research legal and safety issues related to driverless transportation services in France and Japan, the companies said in a statement Thursday.The deal doesnt extend to cooperation producing robo-vehicles.Were convinced that with this added expertise, well be able to position ourselves for autonomous services that are viable for customers, Hadi Zablit, senior vice-president for business development at the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, told reporters in Paris.When it comes to implementation, the three automakers wont necessarily offer services in common with Waymo, he said.The French-Japanese alliance produced more than 10 million vehicles last yearon a par with the biggest carmakers: Volkswagen and Toyota.Unlike Waymos previously announced deals with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Tata Motors Jaguar Land Rover, the partnership with Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi doesnt include supplying any cars.Waymos parent company, Alphabet, struck a separate deal with the three-way partnership last September, giving its Google Android operating system access to their vehicle dashboards starting in 2021.The new agreement marks a first step toward developing long-term, profitable driverless-vehicle services for passengers and deliveries, the companies said. While the analysis will take place first in France and Japan, they said it may expand to other markets excluding China in the
Origin: Waymo to study driverless services with Renault-Nissan alliance