Waymo initiates commercial passenger service using Zeekr Ojai autonomous electric minivans
Waymo has begun accepting paying commercial passengers in its purpose-built Zeekr Ojai electric robotaxis across Phoenix, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, transitioning the custom minivans from pilot testing into standar…
- Gen 6
- 4 seats
- 3 cities
What Happened
The autonomous ride-hailing operator has opened public commercial dispatch for the Ojai model across its three primary Southwestern and West Coast service territories following an initial complimentary evaluation period.
4 passengersseats
Configured with power sliding entrance doors
3 citiesmetro areas
Phoenix, Los Angeles, and San Francisco
Manufactured through a hardware collaboration with Zeekr, the bespoke minivans integrate Waymo's sixth-generation perception suite and compute hardware directly into the vehicle architecture.
Customers hailing a trip through the smartphone application may be dispatched either an Ojai minivan or an existing Jaguar I-Pace, with dedicated model selection planned as additional custom vehicles enter service.
Why this matters
Deploying dedicated electric minivans with sliding doors and four-passenger seating expands cabin utility compared to modified crossovers. Integrating sixth-generation sensor suites on custom hardware reduces manufacturing costs while scaling autonomous fleet density across major metropolitan hubs.
Terms in This Story
- EV
- Electric vehicle, a vehicle powered fully or partly by electricity.
- OTA
- Over-the-air update, a software update delivered remotely to a vehicle.
- ICE
- Internal combustion engine, the conventional petrol or diesel engine type.
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