Waymo opens Zeekr Ojai robotaxi to all riders

A Waymo rider in Los Angeles, Phoenix, or San Francisco can now hail the company’s new Ojai robotaxi and may be matched with one on the street. The Ojai is open to all riders in those three cities, after a period of free early-access trips that began on May 28. Waymo has about 300 Ojai vehicles in its commercial fleet today.

The vehicle is a purpose-built electric minivan made by Zeekr, the premium EV brand owned by Geely Holding Group. Its flat floor, low step-in height, wide doors, three adaptive passenger screens, charging ports, grab bars, and Braille labels are designed around repeated passenger use rather than adapted from a conventional car. Waymo adds its sixth-generation Driver system, which uses 13 cameras, four lidars, and six radar units.

That hardware is smaller than before: Waymo’s latest system represents a 42% cut in sensor count from the fifth generation, and the company says the hardware now runs under $20,000 per vehicle. Zeekr vehicles arrive in the United States without Chinese connectivity hardware and sensors; Waymo installs its own computing and sensor suite at its Mesa, Arizona facility with supplier Magna. The approach lets the company use the Zeekr body, battery, and cabin while replacing the vehicle’s autonomy and connectivity systems.

So what changes in practice? Riders get another vehicle option with a more spacious minivan layout, while Waymo gets a platform it says is cheaper to build, operate, and maintain than its modified Jaguar I-Pace robotaxis. The company is already running about 500,000 paid rides per week across roughly a dozen cities and is targeting 1 million weekly rides as it expands. The Ojai is expected to cost less than half the reported cost of the Jaguar robotaxis it is replacing, though that comparison remains based on reported figures rather than an independent cost study.

The scale-up still has friction. Imported vehicles face roughly 127.5% tariffs on Chinese EVs, according to Electrek, and Waymo must also prepare for a federal connected-vehicle rule taking effect for 2027. MoffettNathanson, tracking shipping receipts, says Waymo is on pace to bring 5,000 Ojai vehicles into the United States by the end of 2026; the company plans to introduce the robotaxi in Denver, Las Vegas, and San Diego later this year. Riders may be getting a new vehicle now, but Waymo’s larger test is whether lower hardware and vehicle costs can support a much larger paid service.