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Waymo's kitted-out Jaguar I-Pace models are being seen testing in public

We've known about the Waymo Jags for a while, but this is our first good look at what they've been up to since they were announced.

Waymo Jaguar I-Pace
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Waymo Jaguar I-Pace

It's been over a year since Waymo and Jaguar debuted the self-driving I-Pace, but now they're testing in public.

Mike Cutler/MHCPhotography

We've known about Waymo's autonomous I-Paces for a while now. The company started talking about them way back in March of 2018 and got its first three kitted-out kitties in July of last year.

Things have been relatively quiet with the Waymo Jags since then, but TechCrunch reported on Monday that these self-driving Jaguars had been seen testing on public roads in and around Mountain View, California aka the home of Waymo and its parent company Alphabet.

Unlike the company's vans currently operating in Arizona, the I-Paces are still sporting their human safety drivers during their initial public testing. The company has contracted to order 20,000 I-Paces from Jaguar and will start rolling them into its fleet beginning in 2020.

Waymo is likely testing its next generation of hardware in these models, and that would explain the fact that they appear to be testing in manual mode, with human drivers behind the wheel.

Waymo opted not to comment further on future plans for testing the I-Pace models.

Jaguar's I-Pace gets the Waymo treatment

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Watch this: A ride on public streets in Waymo One
Kyle Hyatt Former news and features editor
Kyle Hyatt (he/him/his) hails originally from the Pacific Northwest, but has long called Los Angeles home. He's had a lifelong obsession with cars and motorcycles (both old and new).
Kyle Hyatt
Kyle Hyatt (he/him/his) hails originally from the Pacific Northwest, but has long called Los Angeles home. He's had a lifelong obsession with cars and motorcycles (both old and new).

Article updated on June 17, 2019 at 4:40 PM PDT

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Kyle Hyatt Former news and features editor
Kyle Hyatt (he/him/his) hails originally from the Pacific Northwest, but has long called Los Angeles home. He's had a lifelong obsession with cars and motorcycles (both old and new).
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