Google has teamed up with Jaguar Land Rover for its first ever all-electric Street View vehicle, which is now being rolled out in Dublin. The modified Jaguar I-Pace will also be used as part of a new initiative to map air quality in the city, using mobile air sensors to collect data as it roams the streets over the coming 12 months.
Jaguar launched its all-electric I-Pace SUV in 2018, packing a 90-kWh battery pack onboard for a range of around 240 miles (386 km). In adapting it for use as a Google Street View vehicle, the company’s engineers had to add special rooftop mountings for the camera and new glass in the rear window to incorporate wiring and switchgear for special Street View controls.
The car will now go to work collecting data to improve Google Maps in Dublin, but will gather environmental data on air quality at the same time. Google’s Street View vehicles first started performing this function in 2015 using sensors from Aclima, and the approach has grown more sophisticated over time, offering block-by-block pollution readings in one project in California in 2017.
The new venture is a collaboration with Dublin City Council called Air View Dublin, with Aclima’s mobile air sensors to capture street-by-street data on nitrogen dioxide, carbon dioxide and fine particle (PM2.5) emissions across the city. This will take place over the next 12 months, with research partners to analyze this data and turn it into street-level maps of local air pollution.
“Air quality is a serious concern, especially for cities, but there is a gap in terms of localized data and insights available to both decision makers and citizens,” says Paddy Flynn, Vice President of GEO Operations at Google. “As part of this project, we’re using technology to capture this important data and make it accessible so that together with Dublin City Council, we can drive solution planning.”
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