The new deal echoes a similar arrangement made between Jaguar Land Rover and Waymo back in 2018, with the former providing the vehicles and the latter providing the systems needed to make them autonomous. That announcement was accompanied by a bold plan to put 20,000 self-driving electric I-Paces on the road over the following few years, though the new partnership with Volvo makes no such proclamations.

The pair only say that they will work together to develop an entirely new electric vehicle platform that incorporates the latest generation of Waymo's self-driving technology, called Waymo Driver.

Announced back in March, Waymo Driver is capable of some impressive feats. In addition to using its cameras, radar and upgraded lidar sensors to navigate the streets, it can apparently detect a car door opening a city block away, detect debris hundreds of meters up the highway and reduce blind spots by peeking around trucks to see if it is safe to overtake.