Waymo’s cheaper, next-gen robotaxi is now open to all riders in these three cities
- ID
- 15820
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 20 Aug 2026, 6:25 AM
- Fetched
- 20 Aug 2026, 7:09 AM
- Provider
- TechCrunch
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/19/waymos-cheaper-next-gen-robotaxi-is-now-open-to-all-riders-in-these-three-cities/
- Source URL
- https://techcrunch.com/feed/
Summary
- Score
- 4.5
- Created
- 20 Aug 2026, 7:11 AM
- Tags
- Audience
- ai_agent_usersai_ml_learnerssaas_founders
What happened
Waymo has opened its next-generation robotaxi, the Ojai, to all riders in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco, with roughly 300 units currently in its commercial fleet. The Ojai is a Zeekr minivan built on Geely's SEA-M platform, equipped with Waymo's sixth-generation modular self-driving system and Google's Gemini AI as an in-car rider assistant. Waymo plans to expand the Ojai to Denver, Las Vegas, and San Diego later this year.
Why it matters
The Ojai runs on a Chinese EV platform (Zeekr/Geely SEA-M) paired with Gemini AI as an in-car assistant — a concrete example of LLM-powered agents embedded in consumer hardware at scale. Builders working on AI agents or automotive/ride-hailing tech can study how Waymo integrates Gemini for rider interaction and how modular sensor stacks are designed to port across vehicle types. No direct Malaysia impact, but the Zeekr/Geely supply chain connection is relevant if Chinese EV platforms expand into Southeast Asian mobility markets.
Discussion angle
How Gemini is being used as an in-car conversational assistant in a production robotaxi — what this signals for embedding LLM-based agents in physical-world consumer products, and whether Southeast Asian ride-hailing or EV players could follow a similar platform play.