The manufacturer of the electric car with 1,000 km of autonomy joins forces with Google to scare Tesla


A little less than a year after the announcement of the partnership between Waymo (Google) and Zeekr for the creation of an autonomous taxi, the latter is beginning to take shape. The Chinese firm has just unveiled a brand new platform dedicated to driverless vehicles. How to compete with Tesla’s future robot taxi?

A little over a year ago, at the end of December 2021, Waymo, a subsidiary of the American group Alphabet, parent company of Google, formalized its partnership with the Chinese company Zeekr, currently owned by the Geely group. A collaboration which then focused on the development of an autonomous taxi, with particular emphasis on comfort. But if until then, little information had been revealed, now things are starting to become a little more concrete.

A first concept

A few days ago, Zeekr lifted the veil on the M-Vision concept, at the Los Angeles Motor Show. A prototype showing the outline of this future autonomous taxi, which should then compete with the Apollo RT6 developed by Baidu whose arrival on the roads is scheduled for next year. Detailed in a press release published by the Chinese brand, this concept should offer a beautiful interior space.

Accessible via a sliding door over 1.40 meters and suitable for all users thanks to a threshold that would be the lowest in the world, the passenger compartment also has a completely flat floor. The brand also states that the wheelbase can vary from 2.70 to 3.30 meters depending on the needs. The loading volume for the suitcases, however, has not been announced.

Several screens are integrated into the driving position, while the seats are fully adjustable and can be rotated. Thus, the configuration of the interior can be changed easily according to the needs of the passengers. Of course, there is no steering wheel or pedals in this concept, equipped with level 4 autonomous driving technology.

As a reminder, this is the penultimate, and allows movement without the intervention of the driver, but only in certain circumstances and on certain roads. So the Waymo’s self-driving taxi shouldn’t be able to drive around as it sees fitand it should probably be used on some lines, like a bus for example.

A new dedicated platform

If Waymo will take care of the software part, Zeekr will take care of the “automotive” part. The latter took advantage of the revelation of the M-Vision concept to reveal the platform on which the production version will be based. Called SEA-M, this is a variation of the SEA technical base that we already know well, which notably equips the new Smart #1.

This new version will be used for the autonomous taxi, but also for the variation equipped with a steering wheel which will also be marketed as explained Electricity. For the time being, few details have been revealed on this platform, but the press release from Zeekr specifies that it allows you to take advantage of a large interior. The brand also emphasizes that all vehicles that will be equipped with it will meet the strictest safety standards and that they can achieve five stars in crash tests. No wonder, as Chinese cars excel in EuroNCAP crash tests.

For the time being, nothing has been said about the engine that equips this autonomous taxi, which should give Tesla a few cold sweats. Because if Elon Musk had given some details on his robot-taxi project last April, the latter does not yet seem quite ready.

It could be that the production version of the M-Vision inherits certain technical characteristics from the Zeekr 009, a large electric van unveiled at the beginning of November. As a reminder, it is available in two versions, the most high-end of which includes the Qilin CTP 3.0 battery developed by the Chinese giant CATL. This then allows in theory to reach 1,000 kilometers of autonomy, while the van is announced for 822 kilometers with the Chinese CLTP cycle. You should rather expect 700 kilometers according to the European WLTP cycle, since you have to remove about 15% of autonomy. So be patient, while the autonomous taxi should arrive in 2024.


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