Waymo has started offering Ojai robotaxi rides to select customers in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, with expansion planned for additional cities this summer. The vehicles, manufactured by Geely's Zeekr subsidiary, incorporate sixth-generation Waymo Driver hardware that reduces sensor requirements and manufacturing costs compared with prior models.
“Waymo to Deploy Robotaxi Built With Zeekr to Expand Public Rides - Bloomberg.com”
Read at Bloomberg →“Waymo opens Ojai robotaxis to select riders as company aims to lower cost of fleet expansion”
Read at CNBC →No right-leaning sources covered this
Waymo's cheaper Ojai fleet accelerates automation and concentrates control with Alphabet while displacing drivers and relying on Chinese manufacturing.
“Distributional effects on labor and equity of access”
Cost reductions and expanded service demonstrate market-driven innovation but introduce supply-chain risks from Chinese production.
“Innovation benefits alongside national-security concerns”
Lower-cost vehicles expand voluntary consumer options and demonstrate efficient private-sector scaling without mandates.
“Individual choice and regulatory minimalism”
All views accept company timelines and cost claims without addressing over-promising history, missing safety data, or regulatory dependencies that affect actual deployment.
“Unexamined assumptions about reliability and regulatory context”
Ratings by MBFC