By Dean Seal
Google's self-driving startup Waymo is launching a new autonomous vehicle that it designed in partnership with the Chinese EV maker Zeekr.
Waymo said Thursday that public riders will soon be able to take autonomous trips in the Ojai, which company employees have been doing for months.
The Ojai was designed specifically to be a self-driving taxi, unlike other Waymo taxis that were traditional vehicles retrofitted to be driverless. Ojai features elevator-style sliding doors, a low step and a completely flat floor.
The new vehicles will be initially available to select riders in San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles, who can ride for free while Waymo gathers feedback. The service will be expanded to Denver, Las Vegas and San Diego in the coming months, and opened up to the general public later this year.
The Ojai was developed as part of a collaboration with Zeekr, an EV brand owned by China's Geely Automobile. They have been outfitted with Waymo's 6th-generation driver hardware, which includes custom sensors, cameras and radar.
Write to Dean Seal at dean.seal@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 28, 2026 12:39 ET (16:39 GMT)
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