Vasco Rossi published a series of videos on Instagram in which he travels in a self-driving car. This is a Jaguar I-Pace, an electric SUV with an autonomous setup created by Waymo. Vasco is located in Los Angeles, where Waymo has begun a series of experiments with this type of vehicle.
The images by Vasco Rossi in a self-driving car are actually interesting. Vasco is at Los Angeles and resumes himself inside a car in which there is no driver. Comment on all the steps. “Look how he slides in” when he merges into traffic. “You shouldn’t touch anything”. And then shows the seat without the driver but with the seat belt fastened. From a few details it is possible to understand the model of the car.
The car Vasco Rossi is traveling in is one Jaguar I-Pacea fully electric SUV from Jaguar. In Italy the starting price for the basic setup is 96,400 euros. As Quattroruote, a magazine specializing in cars, explains, it is the SUV with which Jaguar wants to compete directly with Tesla. Let’s clarify it: its basic setup does not include the autonomous driving that we saw in Vasco’s video. According to the New York Times, the cost with all the self-driving setup is expected $190,000.
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The model of Jaguar I-Pace on which Vasco Rossi climbed is the result of a collaboration between Jaguar and Waymoa self-driving vehicle company that is part of the Alphabet groupthe same as Google. In fact, Waymo was born from Google Self-Driving Car Project. Waymo is currently undergoing a long road testing phase with which it has managed to bring self-driving taxis to several cities in the United States.
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According to the Wall Street Journal, Waymo is currently able to offer approximately 100,000 trips per week in the three cities in which it is active: San Francisco, Los Angeles (both in California) and Phoenix, Arizona. Not without controversy from residents, with whom several problems have already been reported. The costs of the rides obviously vary based on the duration of the journey: According to LAist, a 17-minute ride costs $20.
When will we see self-driving cars in Italy
Judging by the images published by Vasco Rossithe car he got into should have a Level 4 of autonomy on a scale reaching up to Level 5. We are therefore talking about cars capable of mastering very complex traffic situations without the driver’s intervention. To be clear, the Cybercabs presented by Tesla in recent weeks are Level 5 because they don’t even have a steering wheel. In Italy the maximum autonomous driving allowed is Level 2: a definition that includes a series of assistance systems, such as those for parking or keeping the vehicle in the center of the lane. It is unlikely that we will soon see robotaxis that move without a driver.
