Waymo has begun offering access to its newest robotaxis to select passengers in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco. Robotaxis are minivan-like fully electric vehicles designed to reduce costs and address the use and abuse of hundreds of thousands of passengers.
Waymo announced Thursday that it will eventually expand access to its fleet of modified Zeekr minivans, called Ojai (pronounced Ojai), to more passengers and cities. Currently, the Alphabet-owned company is offering free rides to Ojai to a limited number of customers to gather feedback and further improve the robotaxi experience.
The launch of Ojai comes after years of development and testing. All in the pursuit of creating a vehicle that is accessible, comfortable, easy to maintain and, importantly, low cost to manufacture and operate.
The service’s arrival comes at a difficult time for Waymo. Waymo recently suspended its robotaxi service on highways in Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, and San Francisco to improve vehicle operation at construction sites. Waymo also temporarily suspended service in Atlanta, Georgia and San Antonio, Texas to address flooding issues in those cities.
The launch of the blue-hued minivan may not be a clean slate for Waymo, but it gives the company a real chance to generate scale and revenue.
The vehicle is equipped with Waymo hardware and software, but its foundation comes from Zeekr, a brand owned by China’s Geely Holdings.
The two companies partnered in 2021 and unveiled a dedicated robotaxi concept in late 2022. Waymo spent nearly two years testing prototypes before testing production versions of the vehicles on public roads.
Designed in Sweden and manufactured in China, the minivan is based on the SEA-M architecture, a sophisticated version of Zeekr’s proprietary Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) aimed at “future mobility products” such as robot taxis and logistics vehicles.
Ojai is equipped with Waymo’s sixth-generation system, which includes 13 cameras, four LIDAR sensors, six radar units, and an array of external audio receivers. This 6th generation system is designed to be modular and is a key part of Waymo’s commercial strategy. This means it can be applied to multiple vehicle types, including two previously announced vehicles: the Zeekr minivan and the Hyundai Ioniq 5.
Ojai should reflect the technological advances and lessons the company has learned from more than 500,000 paid robotaxis rides each week. It also aims to accelerate Waymo’s fleet growth, which currently has approximately 3,700 Jaguar I-Pace vehicles.
The stripped-down Zeekr vehicles, which don’t include any Chinese connected car technology, will be sent to Waymo’s Arizona factory, where they will be equipped with all the bells and whistles of the company’s robotaxis. The company said it is currently scaling toward production capacity of tens of thousands of units per year, starting with the Ojai and continuing with Hyundai’s Ioniq 5.
The result is a vehicle with a flat floor, low step-in height, and gondola-like doors on both sides for easy entry and exit. There are other features aimed at satisfying riders, such as charging ports, cup holders, increased leg and headroom, grab bars, Braille above various buttons, and three large adaptive screens that allow customers to access routes, change music, control climate, and provide rider tips.
And details like an easy-to-clean interior, faster charging, modular design, and increased battery capacity all help reduce costs and streamline maintenance and repair.
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