Waymo is beginning to offer select riders trips in its new purpose-built Ojai robotaxi, featuring the company's sixth-generation Driver hardware that cuts sensor costs dramatically while expanding to colder climates. The minivan-style vehicle, built by Zeekr and outfitted with Waymo's autonomous driving technology at its Arizona factory, represents a significant engineering milestone for the robotaxi company as it scales operations across 11 cities.

What Makes the Ojai Different From Waymo's Current Fleet?

The Ojai is Waymo's first robotaxi designed from the ground up as a rider-first vehicle rather than a retrofitted consumer car. Unlike Waymo's current fleet of Jaguar I-PACE SUVs, the Ojai features a spacious cabin with a completely flat floor, three large adaptive screens for rear passengers, charging ports, and cup holders. The vehicle's design prioritizes accessibility with features including a low step-in height, braille markings, and grab bars for riders with disabilities.

When Business Insider tested the Ojai with six suitcases, the vehicle proved remarkably spacious. Reporters could stand up two checked bags and stack two carry-ons in the trunk, with additional room for carry-ons in the passenger row. The Ojai offers about a foot more legroom in the rear compared to the Jaguar, making it better suited for airport travelers and families with children.

How Does the Sixth-Generation Driver Hardware Improve Economics?

The real breakthrough lies under the hood. The sixth-generation Waymo Driver cuts the sensor count by 42% compared to the fifth-generation system, reducing cameras from 29 to 13, lidars from five to four, and using fewer radar units, while delivering more capability. This reduction was achieved through development of a camera with high dynamic range and thermal stability, allowing the vehicle to see farther in both low and bright lighting conditions.

The hardware cost target is under $20,000 per unit, a threshold that puts Waymo within reach of sustainable per-ride unit economics at scale. For context, Zeekr's consumer version of a similar electric minivan sells in China for around $40,000, while a new Jaguar I-PACE started at about $72,000 in its final 2024 model year before Waymo's sensors and autonomous-driving hardware were added.

Critically, the sixth-generation Driver enables fully autonomous operations in snowier cities, a limitation that had previously restricted Waymo's expansion to warmer climates. That opens the door to markets like Chicago, where Waymo has already confirmed it is laying the groundwork.

Steps to Understanding Waymo's Expansion Strategy

• Current Scale: Waymo has surpassed 20 million fully autonomous trips across 11 cities, delivers roughly 500,000 paid rides per week, and operates a fleet of more than 3,000 vehicles, a scale that no competitor comes close to matching.
• Production Capacity: Waymo's Arizona factory is now scaling toward a capacity of tens of thousands of units annually, beginning with the Ojai followed by the Hyundai IONIQ 5, supported by a $16 billion investment at a $126 billion valuation earlier this year.
• Geographic Expansion: Waymo now covers over 1,400 square miles across 11 cities and plans to launch the Ojai in San Diego, Las Vegas, and Denver later in the summer, plus London and Tokyo internationally.
• Operational Improvements: The Ojai includes easier-to-clean interiors, faster charging, increased battery capacity, and a more modular design for efficient maintenance and repairs, improvements that matter when running a fleet at scale.

How Does Waymo Compare to Other Robotaxi Programs?

The scale gap between Waymo and competitors remains enormous. Tesla has roughly 25 unsupervised robotaxis on the road across three Texas cities, while Waymo operates a fleet of more than 3,000 vehicles and is now tooling up to produce tens of thousands more per year. Baidu may be the exception, as its scale in China is also quite impressive, but no American competitor has built a real autonomous ride-hailing business at Waymo's scale.

Waymo's approach of designing a purpose-built vehicle makes strategic sense. When you're designing a robotaxi from scratch, you can optimize for things that actually matter in a ride-hailing context: easy entry and exit, spacious rear seating, durable and cleanable interiors, and accessibility. A retrofitted consumer car will never match that level of optimization.

During testing, Business Insider reporters experienced a minor glitch when the Ojai paused twice to contact rider support while navigating San Francisco's Mission Bay neighborhood. A Waymo spokesperson explained that the vehicle paused while the Waymo Driver confirmed its interpretation of the surrounding environment before proceeding. Despite this pause, the company delivers on its promise of a more spacious ride experience.

Waymo said it plans to start with 100 Ojais across cities for public rides, with access expanding gradually to more riders and more cities beyond the initial three markets of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. Trips will be free for a limited time as the company rolls out the new vehicle.

The Ojai launch signals that Waymo is methodically executing on its autonomous driving strategy while pulling away from competitors in this space. Whether the economics will ultimately work remains a question, but there is no denying that Waymo is the only company in America that has actually built a real autonomous ride-hailing business at scale.