Your Daily Dose of Climate Hope: January 2, 2025
American-made self-driving electric cars!
Waymo and Hyundai just began a partnership to manufacture all-electric self-driving taxis in Georgia.
Tell Congress to sustain domestic EV manufacturing tax credits!
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Reasons For Hope
U.S. self-driving car company Waymo has begun a new multi-year partnership with Hyundai to produce Ioniq 5 all-electric SUVs specially modified for use as Waymo self-driving taxis at the Hyundai factory in Georgia.
“Waymo’s transformational technology is improving road safety where they operate, and the IONIQ 5 is the ideal vehicle to scale this further.
The team at our new manufacturing facility is ready to allocate a significant number of vehicles for the Waymo One fleet as it continues to expand.
Importantly, this is the first step in the partnership between the two companies and we are actively exploring additional opportunities for collaboration.”
— José Muñoz, CEO of Hyundai Motor North America.
Notably, available data indicates that Waymo’s self-driving cars are substantially safer than human drivers, with the first 7.1 million miles driven in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix causing only 3 minor injuries compared to an expected 13 injuries for human drivers. Future Waymo taxis will now be American-made all-electric vehicles!
This is a great example of success in the new age of clean American industry, with Waymo’s new electric SUVs set to boost U.S. manufacturing jobs while reducing air pollution and vehicle collisions. And it’s just one of many innovations directly supported by the Inflation Reduction Act’s landmark tax credits for domestic electric vehicle manufacturing. The incoming Congress will decide whether to keep these vital policies — which have substantial bipartisan support, so it’s very much still up in the air. Your voice could help make the difference.
We NEED to support this clean transportation!!
EV's. Yes!
Self driving. NO!
Self driving is another tech boondoogle to consolidate control and profits. There is 1) a large environmental cost to support the energy required to run the data centers that support "self driving" and 2) the cost of the always "needing to be upgraded" physical and technology systems. This removes local concern and control out of the communities served into the abyss of "absentee ownership" and 3) there are humans who can and have done these jobs very well. I agree, make the vehicles operate with clean energy, but leave the driving to a human in the car!!