Waymo Opens Zeekr-Built Ojai Robotaxi to All Riders

AutomotivePosted 09/20/202609/20/2026 at 3:11 am@TechDesk To timeline

Waymo

Starts 08/20/2026

Waymo Opens Zeekr-Built Ojai Robotaxi to All Riders · Chronopin

On 20 August 2026 Waymo opened its next-generation Ojai robotaxi, built in China by Zeekr, to all riders in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix, beginning commercial operations with the platform^[1]
Until then the Ojai had been limited to free early-access rides for select riders in the same three cities since 28 May 2026, when Waymo began offering trips to gather feedback^[1][3]
Riders “may be matched with an Ojai when one is available nearby”, and Waymo says it will eventually let passengers choose between the Ojai and its existing Jaguar I-PACE fleet^[1]
Waymo rolled out “Gemini in Waymo” and a redesigned rider app alongside the opening^[1]
The links disagree on which cities came next: Electrek said Ojai rides were “coming next to select riders in Denver, San Diego, and Las Vegas”, while the later CarNewsChina report says Waymo began public driverless ride-hailing in Denver, San Diego and Tampa on 1 September 2026, taking its footprint to 14 cities, with Denver and San Diego launching with the Ojai as the exclusive platform^[1][2]
More than 3,200 Zeekr vehicles have entered the US through the Port of Los Angeles since 2024, more than 2,600 of them in 2026^[1][2]
The tariff figure is stated two ways: Electrek says Waymo pays “a tariff of roughly 127.5% on Chinese EVs”, while CarNewsChina cites a customs analysis estimating an overall import-related cost burden of roughly 102.5% to 127.5%, combining the standard passenger-vehicle tariff, the Section 301 duty on Chinese BEVs and other customs and port charges^[1][2]
The cost saving is stated loosely by Electrek, which expects the completed vehicle to total “less than half the reported cost of the Jaguar I-PACE robotaxis it is replacing”, and in figures by CarNewsChina, which estimates a declared base value of about $38,000–39,000 per chassis, a landed glider cost of about $78,000–86,500 and a completed vehicle at roughly $103,000–110,000 against about $200,000 for an I-Pace — industry estimates, not Waymo-disclosed^[1][2]
The cars arrive stripped of Chinese connectivity hardware and sensors, treated by customs as an incomplete mechanical rolling glider, with Waymo's US-designed compute and sensor suite installed at its Mesa, Arizona facility with supplier Magna^[1][2][3]
They must clear the US Commerce Department's connected-vehicle rule, which takes effect for 2027 and bans vehicle-connectivity and driver-assist hardware or software sourced from China or Russia^[1]
As of the week before the opening, Waymo had nearly 1,000 Ojai robotaxis staged at its Arizona factory with hundreds already converted, alongside roughly 3,700 Jaguar I-PACE vehicles; by early September CarNewsChina put about 300 Ojais carrying public riders with roughly 2,900 more in integration, calibration, storage or reserve, and the total US commercial fleet past 4,000 vehicles^[1][2][3]
Waymo is running about 500,000 paid rides per week across roughly a dozen cities and targets 1 million weekly rides, which CarNewsChina dates to the end of 2026^[1][2][3]
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is being brought online as a second robotaxi platform using the same modular sixth-generation Driver, though CarNewsChina notes “there is no evidence that the Hyundai platform is entering commercial driverless service at a volume equivalent to the current Zeekr program”^[1][2][3]
The May launch came at a difficult moment for Waymo, which had recently suspended freeway robotaxi service in Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix and San Francisco to improve behaviour in construction zones and paused service in Atlanta and San Antonio over flooding^[3]

Notable features

The vehicle is built by Zeekr, the premium EV brand owned by China's Geely Holding Group, on the SEA-M architecture, with the body designed in Sweden and manufactured in China — in Ningbo, per CarNewsChina, which also identifies it internally as the Zeekr CM1e, previously the Zeekr RT, renamed Ojai by Waymo in January 2026^[1][2][3]
It is a purpose-built robotaxi rather than a retrofit: a van-style EV with a flat floor, low step-in height, wide gondola-like doors on both sides, extra leg and head room, three adaptive screens for route, music and climate, charging ports, cup holders, grab bars and braille labelling^[1][3]
Waymo's sixth-generation Driver uses 13 cameras, four lidars and six radar units — “a 42% cut in sensor count from the fifth-generation system”, which CarNewsChina gives as 29 cameras and five lidars on the Jaguar I-Pace — and Waymo says the hardware now runs under $20,000 per vehicle^[1][2][3]
CarNewsChina adds vehicle specifications: 4,640 mm long on a 3,000 mm wheelbase, a single rear permanent-magnet synchronous motor of 200 kW (268 hp) and 342 N·m, a 93 kWh gross battery, redundant steer-by-wire and brake-by-wire, and a 2+3 cabin leaving four usable passenger positions^[2]

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Waymo Opens Zeekr-Built Ojai Robotaxi to All Riders

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Waymo Opens Robotaxi Rides to the Public in Denver

Waymo Opens Robotaxi Rides to the Public in Las Vegas

Waymo Announces Singapore Robotaxi Service for 2028

Waymo Opens Robotaxi Rides to the Public in Tampa

Waymo Opens Robotaxi Rides to the Public in San Diego

Tesla's Cybercab Starts Robotaxi Rides in Austin

Tesla Cybercab Volume Production

Opel Opens the Dudenhofen Test Center as Europe's Most Modern Proving Ground

Claas Launches the Stage V Axion 900 Tractor Series

NVIDIA Unveils the Isaac GR00T Reference Humanoid

Namo Bharat's Delhi-Meerut Corridor Opens End to End

Einride Launches a Prototype for Its Driverless Electric Truck T-Pod

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