Waymo Deploys Sixth‑Gen Ojai Robotaxis for Driverless Bay Area, LA Rides

Waymo has begun using its sixth‑generation Waymo Driver on Ojai robotaxis to provide driverless rides to employees and guests in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, a company announcement reported Feb. 12 shows. The move is the first limited deployment of the new system on public roads since the sixth‑gen was announced in 2024 and signals a push toward scaling operations in harsher climates and denser U.S. markets.

The sixth‑gen Driver combines what Waymo describes as upgraded perception hardware and more cost‑effective parts intended to cut fleet costs and extend operational windows. Waymo Vice President of Engineering Satish Jeyachandran called the new system “as the primary engine for our next era of expansion.” Vehicle hardware detailed in coverage lists 13 cameras, six radar sensors, and four lidar sensors on the Ojai van, with onboard heaters, small wipers, and fluid systems installed to reduce ice buildup and clear dirt — features targeted at reliably operating in colder, wetter conditions.

Waymo will install its autonomous stack in base vehicles supplied by Zeekr, which Waymo identifies as a subsidiary of Geely. Waymo spokesperson Sandy Karp told CNBC by email that the company will not provide “any access to its closely‑held autonomous driving technology, sensor data, nor any rider information” to Zeekr, and that Waymo performs the installations in the United States. Karp also noted, “We have consistently operated mixed fleets for years, including when we transitioned from the 4th‑gen Driver on the Pacifica to the 5th‑gen Driver on the I‑PACE.” The sixth‑gen Driver is also compatible with robotaxis based on the Hyundai Ioniq 5; existing Jaguar I‑PACE vehicles will continue to run Waymo’s fifth‑generation system.

For San Francisco County residents the immediate change is modest: the initial rollout serves employees and their guests, not the general public. But the deployment is a clear operational trial that precedes wider consumer access later in the year, according to company plans. Waymo already operates robotaxi services in six U.S. markets - Austin, the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Miami - and has a public plan to expand this year to cities including Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Nashville, Orlando, San Antonio, San Diego, and Washington, with London slated as the first international market.

The economics matter: Bloomberg reporting aggregated by media trackers places Waymo’s baseline at roughly 400,000 paid weekly rides today in six cities, and cites company leadership targeting more than 1,000,000 paid weekly rides in the U.S. by the end of 2026. If Waymo achieves that scale, per-ride costs could fall and autonomous taxis could reshape urban trip patterns, curb access, and demand for parking around transit hubs.

Local officials, curb managers, and transit planners should expect to engage on pickup-dropoff logistics, accessibility standards, and data-sharing rules as Waymo transitions from internal tests to public service. The company’s insistence on protecting sensor and rider data will be central in those conversations. For San Francisco riders, the sixth‑gen rollout marks a nearer-term step toward more robust, weather-resistant robotaxi service and signals intensified competition over who controls future urban mobility.