Self-driving car spinoff Waymo will buy up to 20,000 electric vehicles from Jaguar Land Rover to help realize its vision for a robotic ride-hailing service.

The commitment announced Tuesday marks another step in Waymo’s evolution from a secret project started in Google nine years ago to a spinoff that’s gearing up for an attempt to reshape the transportation business.

The Jaguar deal will expand upon a fleet of self-driving cars that Waymo has been gradually building in partnership with Fiat Chrysler since 2015. Waymo initially equipped about 600 Pacifica minivans with its self-driving technology before negotiating to buy “thousands” more of the vehicles.

The minivans will be part of a ride-hailing service that Waymo plans to launch in Phoenix this year. Waymo aims to expand the service to other states.

Jaguar will deliver its vehicles for Waymo’s ride-hailing service from 2020 to 2022. The 20,000 “I-Pace” models will provide up to 1 million rides per day, according to Waymo.

Financial terms of Jaguar’s deal with Waymo weren’t disclosed. Jaguar lists the starting price for its I-Pace model at about $70,000, a figure that translates into $1.4 billion for 20,000 vehicles.

U.S. consumer confidence cools off

American consumers’ confidence has slipped after reaching an 18-year high last month.

The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell to 127.7 in March. That was down from 130 in February, the highest level since November 2000.

Consumers were less optimistic in March as their assessment of business conditions declined, the Conference Board said. Their short-term expectations also declined, although overall expectations remain favorable. The percentage of survey respondents saying that business conditions are good increased from 36.5 percent to 37.9 percent, but those saying business conditions are bad also rose, from 11.3 percent to 13.4 percent.

Heineken pulls ad after complaints

Heineken has removed a commercial for its light beer after some complaints that it was racist.

The ad featured a bartender sliding a bottle of Heineken light. The bottle passes several black people before it arrives to a lighter-skinned woman. The tag line: Sometimes lighter is better.

Hip-hop star Chance the Rapper on Sunday tweeted the commercial was “terribly racist.”

In a statement, Heineken says while the ad was referencing Heineken Light, “we missed the mark.”

Heineken drew praise last year for its “Open Your World” commercials, which featured people of different backgrounds discussing their viewpoints.

THE BOTTOM LINE

$50M The amount Cisco Systems Inc. announced Monday that it will donate over five years to address the growing problem of homelessness in California’s Santa Clara County and is encouraging other Silicon Valley companies to make similar efforts. In a blog post, CEO Chuck Robbins said people in the San Francisco Bay Area know homelessness has reached a crisis level, costing the county $520 million per year.