The Chrysler Pacifica eHybrid, shown during the Detroit auto show in January, offers customers two ways of fuelling. Picture: AFP/Getty

FIAT Chrysler and Google for the first time will offer rides to the public in the self-driving cars they are building under an expanding partnership.

The companies announced last year they would build 100 self-driving Chrysler Pacifica hybrids mini-vans. Those vehicles have been tested in the US statutes of Arizona, California and Michigan.

Waymo, Google’s self-driving car project, said on Tuesday it will allow hundreds of people in Phoenix to take rides in the vehicles so that it can get feedback on the experience. People can apply on Waymo’s website. The company also said that it’s expanding its fleet to 500 Pacifica hybrids.

Fiat Chrysler and Google said they would build 100 self-driving Chrysler Pacificas. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied

Waymo — created by Google in 2009 — has given rides to the public before in its hometown of Mountain View, California.

In 2015, it let a blind man ride around Austin, Texas, in one of its completely self-driving pods.

The Phoenix program will be much larger in scale, and it will be the first to use the Pacifica mini-vans.

Others in the race to develop self-driving vehicles have been putting people in their cars since last year.

Uber has had self-driving Volvos on the road in Pittsburgh for some time. Boston start-up nuTonomy is giving taxi rides to passengers in Singapore and Boston. In all cases, there is a backup driver behind the wheel.

Waymo said it wants to learn where people want to go in a self-driving vehicle, how they communicate with it and what kinds of information and controls they want.

Fiat Chrysler builds the Pacifica mini-van in Windsor, Canada, just across the border from Detroit.

It adds Waymo’s self-driving software and hardware, including sensors and cameras, at a facility in Michigan. Fiat Chrysler’s US headquarters is in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

“This collaboration is helping both companies learn how to bring self-driving cars to market, and realise the safety and mobility benefits of this technology,” said Waymo chief John Krafcik in a company release.

Waymo has made clear that it intends to form partnerships with automakers and not build its own self-driving cars. It’s also in talks with Honda Motor Co. about a potential collaboration.

Fiat Chrysler and Google for the first time will offer rides to the public in the self-driving cars. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied