Waymo’s New Robotaxi: Chinese-Made, Focused on Profit, and Ready for Passengers

Waymo has started giving select riders in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco access to its newest robotaxi: a fully electric, minivan-style vehicle designed to cut costs and endure the wear and tear from numerous passengers.

On Thursday, Waymo revealed plans to gradually expand access to this vehicle, a modified Zeekr minivan called the Ojai (pronounced oh-hi), to a wider audience and more cities. For now, the Alphabet-owned company is providing a limited number of customers with complimentary rides in the Ojai to gather feedback and improve the robotaxi experience.

The introduction of the Ojai comes after years of development and testing, focused on creating a vehicle that is accessible, comfortable, easy to maintain, and cost-effective to produce and operate.

Its launch aligns with a challenging period for Waymo, which recently paused robotaxi services on highways in Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, and San Francisco to enhance vehicle performance in construction zones. Services have also been suspended in Atlanta, Georgia, and San Antonio, Texas, due to concerns about flooding in those areas.

Although the launch of the blue-hued minivan may not completely erase prior challenges for Waymo, it offers the company a significant opportunity for scaling operations and generating revenue.

While the vehicle features Waymo’s technology, its foundation is based on Zeekr, a brand under China’s Geely Holdings.

The collaboration between the two companies started in 2021, with a concept for the purpose-built robotaxi unveiled in late 2022. Waymo has invested nearly two years in testing both the prototype and a production-ready version on public roads.

The minivan, designed in Sweden and manufactured in China, is built on the SEA-M architecture, an advanced version of Zeekr’s original Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA), crafted for “future mobility products” like robotaxis and logistics vehicles.

The Ojai is equipped with Waymo’s sixth-generation system, which comprises 13 cameras, four lidar sensors, six radar units, and a suite of external audio receivers. This system is crucial to Waymo’s commercial strategy, designed to be modular, making it adaptable for various vehicle types, including the previously announced Zeekr minivan and the Hyundai Ioniq 5.

The Ojai aims to integrate the technological advancements and insights gained from providing over 500,000 paid robotaxi rides each week, and is expected to accelerate the growth of Waymo’s fleet, currently consisting of around 3,700 Jaguar I-Pace vehicles.

The simplified Zeekr vehicles—lacking any Chinese connected car technology—are sent to Waymo’s Arizona factory for all necessary robotaxi modifications. The company intends to achieve an annual production capacity of tens of thousands of units, starting with the Ojai and soon including the Hyundai Ioniq 5.

The result is a vehicle featuring a flat floor, low step-in height, and gondola-like doors on both sides for easier entry and exit. Additional features focused on enhancing passenger comfort include charging ports, cup holders, increased legroom and headroom, grab bars, braille above various buttons, and three large adaptive screens for routing, music adjustment, climate control, and rider tips.

It also includes a more easily maintainable interior, faster charging capabilities, modular design, and improved battery capacity—all contributing to reduced costs and streamlined maintenance and repairs.