Autonomous Jaguar EV That Caught Fire At Waymo Facility May Take Weeks To Extinguish

The Phoenix Fireplace Division had a chance to check its newest response techniques for electrical autos resulting from a current hearth that broke out at a Waymo facility in Phoenix, Arizona. The incident concerned a single electrical Jaguar i-Tempo modified by Waymo and requires a radical extinguishing course of that can take a number of weeks to finish.

What began the fireplace within the first place continues to be not identified (we have now reached out to Waymo for remark, however haven’t but acquired a response), however the occasion began at one of many firm’s services in Phoenix. Owned by Google’s mum or dad firm, Alphabet Inc., it’s used to obtain knowledge collected by autonomous check autos throughout their day by day operations.

The hearth broke out on Tuesday, Might 2 at 8:48 a.m. Although the scenario was alarming, the power’s sprinkler system was in a position to include the blaze, stopping it from spreading to different autos. Fireplace crews arrived on the scene and labored to completely extinguish the fireplace. Fortuitously, all staff have been safely evacuated, and there have been no accidents reported within the incident.

Learn: Tesla Mannequin 3 Bursts Into Flames From Inside Whereas Driving On The Highway

Pictures Phoenix Fireplace Division

Nevertheless, as a result of nature of the incident, greater than 60 firefighters have been dispatched to the situation, and the street resulting in the warehouse was quickly shut down. Hazardous supplies specialists have been additionally despatched to help within the scenario, a response that in accordance with the crews who spoke to Fox Information, will likely be normal for any future EV-related fires.

Since electrical automobile batteries are so vitality dense, they burn extraordinarily sizzling, and are very exhausting to place out. Given the character of the fires, and the relative novelty of electrical autos, representatives with the division stated that they’re always creating new hearth combating methods.

On this case, crews labored to douse the flames with water. As soon as the blaze subsided, the automobile, a Jaguar I-Tempo modified by Waymo to include autonomous driving expertise, was moved exterior.

The automobile was positioned inside a metropolis dumpster, and buried in moist sand. 12 Information studies that the automobile will stay within the dumpster for as much as three weeks, earlier than being taken by an EV recycling facility.