Waymo got grilled on Capitol Hill as lawmakers accused it of relying too much on Chinese cars and overseas labor

"What started as a policy hearing on self-driving cars turned tense for Waymo. Lawmakers on Wednesday accused the robotaxi company of relying too heavily on Chinese vehicles and offshore labor, leading to a tense back-and-forth during a two-hour Senate hearing. After autonomous vehicle executives said earlier in the hearing that US companies risk falling behind Chinese rivals, senators flipped that back on Waymo's chief safety officer, Mauricio Peña."

""You said in your testimony that we're locked in a race with China, but it seems like you're getting in bed with China," Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio said, pointing to Waymo's plans to use vehicles made by a subsidiary of Geely, a Chinese automaker. Peña said the Alphabet-owned company uses a mix of platforms, but Moreno pushed back, questioning if Waymo was using a "backdoor" to sidestep the federal "connected vehicle" rule, which restricts foreign-linked technology in sensitive systems."

"Waymo first partnered with Zeekr, a Chinese automaker owned by Geely, in 2021. Since then, the company has spent several years adapting and testing a minivan-style vehicle built by Zeekr for its robotaxi program. A Waymo spokesperson told TechCrunch last month that it will rename the Zeekr robotaxi to Ojai, citing concerns that the US public may be unfamiliar with the Zeekr brand. Peña said the Chinese-made cars have "no connectivity" and that the driving system is installed"

A Senate hearing on self-driving cars turned contentious when lawmakers accused Waymo of relying on Chinese-made vehicles and offshore operators. Senators questioned Waymo's partnership with Zeekr, a Geely subsidiary, and suggested the company might be using a "backdoor" to avoid parts of the federal connected-vehicle rule that limits foreign-linked technology. Waymo partnered with Zeekr in 2021 and has spent years adapting a Zeekr minivan for its robotaxi program. Waymo plans to rename the Zeekr vehicle to Ojai, and the company said the Chinese-made cars have "no connectivity" and that the driving system is installed separately.

Read at Business Insider