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white van man" come to an end once Waymo integrates its tech into the Ram ProMaster van?"/>

Enlarge / Could the stereotype of "white van man" come to an end once Waymo integrates its tech into the Ram ProMaster van? (credit: FCA)

Late on Tuesday night, Waymo and Fiat Chryler Automobiles announced that they are strengthening the partnership between the two companies that began back in 2016. Waymo will be FCA's sole autonomous driving technology partner for developing so-called L4 (geofenced or otherwise operational design domain-limited autonomous driving) technology. Additionally, Waymo and FCA are going to develop autonomous Ram ProMaster commercial vans for driverless deliveries.

"With this next step, deepening our relationship with the very best technology partner in this space, we’re turning to the needs of our commercial customers by jointly enabling self-driving for light commercial vehicles, starting with the Ram ProMaster. Adding Waymo’s commitment to partner with us to deploy its L4 fully autonomous technology across our entire product portfolio, our partnership is setting the pace for the safe and sustainable mobility solutions that will help define the automotive world in the years and decades to come,” said FCA CEO Mike Manley in a statement.

"FCA was our first OEM partner and we’ve come a long way together. Today, we’re expanding our partnership with FCA with the Waymo Driver as the exclusive L4 autonomy solution for this global automotive company. Together, we’ll introduce the Waymo Driver throughout the FCA brand portfolio, opening up new frontiers for ride-hailing, commercial delivery and personal-use vehicles around the world,” said Waymo CEO John Krafcik.

Enlarge / On July 17, 2020, a Long March 5 rocket rolls out for the launch of a Mars rover this week. (credit: STR/AFP via Getty Images)

On Sunday, an orbiter built by the United Arab Emirates launched to Mars. Next week, possibly as early as Thursday, July 30, NASA will launch is large, 1.05-ton Perseverance rover toward the red planet.

Sandwiched in between these to missions, however, is China's first interplanetary spacecraft. With its ambitious Tianwen 1 mission, China will attempt to orbit and land on Mars on its first attempt, subsequently deploying a rover. This is significant, because the typical mode of exploration is to first flyby a new world, then enter orbit, and only then send a spacecraft to land and potentially rove around.

China has the benefit of learning from NASA's exploration of the red planet, of course. Even before Perseverance, NASA has landed eight spacecraft successfully on the surface of Mars over a period of decades.