The pale blue vans have begun picking up passengers in California and Arizona.
Waymo has begun offering rides in its brand-new Ojai robotaxi to passengers in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix. Trips will be free for a limited time.
The Ojai is a big step for Waymo. This is the company’s first purpose-built robotaxi. Up until this point, Waymo has relied on retrofitted consumer cars. The van-sized vehicle is also on the larger side. This operates in stark contrast to Tesla’s teensy Cybercab, which looks like it would struggle to hold two people and their groceries.
The Ojai was built by Chinese manufacturer Zeekr and then outfitted with Waymo’s autonomous driving hardware at the company’s factory in Arizona. It’s got a lot of legroom, three screens for rear passengers and charging ports. These vehicles also be the first to use Waymo’s 6th-gen Driver software. According to Electrek, this has allowed the company to cut the number of camera sensors from 29 to 13, with a reduction in lidar units and radar units; Waymo can reportedly get one of these on the streets for under $20,000.
The new software also works in snowier cities, which is a limitation that has restricted Waymo to warmer locations. To that end, Waymo has confirmed it’s already laying the groundwork for a Chicago rollout.
This is just the latest expansion for Waymo. The company currently offers autonomous rides in 11 major American cities, with over 20 million driverless trips under its belt. This is a metric no other company comes close to matching.
Waymo had to suspend operations in two cities earlier this month after the vehicles kept driving into flooded roads. This also forced a recall of 4,000 cars. The company’s vehicles also have a tendency to sail past school buses without stopping.
