{"id":828039,"date":"2026-05-28T15:23:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T15:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/828039\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T15:23:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T15:23:22","slug":"waymo-launches-services-with-cheaper-robotaxis-in-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/828039\/","title":{"rendered":"Waymo launches services with cheaper robotaxis in Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Waymo is rolling out a new <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2026-05-01\/california-can-ticket-robotaxis-that-violate-traffic-laws-heres-how\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">driverless taxi<\/a> to help the company expand into more cities and tackle tougher driving conditions, including snowy roads, the company announced Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>The new vehicle, dubbed the Ojai, will begin serving select customers in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix in the coming weeks. Rides will be free of charge as the company gathers feedback. <\/p>\n<p>           <video playsinline=\"playsinline\" loop=\"\" preload=\"none\" title=\"Waymo to launch new, bigger vehicle with its latest self-driving tech\" data-video-id=\"0000019e-6bb1-d29f-a9de-eff70d920000\">               <\/video>                 <img class=\"image\" alt=\"\"   width=\"473\" height=\"840\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779981799_490_.jpeg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>             <\/p>\n<ul data-element=\"action-bar-menu\" class=\"flex gap-2 list-none  absolute w-full h-10 top-0\">\n<li data-element=\"action-bar-share\" class=\"flex  w-full h-10 top-0 lg:items-center lg:justify-center \">\n<p> Share via     Close extra sharing options  <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Ojai has sliding doors and offers riders more legroom, three screens and accessibility features such as Braille. The minivan-like taxi can carry four passengers and also has more cargo space than its current vehicles. <\/p>\n<p>Waymo is launching around 100 Ojai vehicles and plans to ramp up production to supplement its fleet of Jaguar I-Pace taxis, which shuttle customers around <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/waymo.com\/rides\/#rides-map\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">in more than 10 cities<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>                 <img class=\"image\" alt=\"Venice Beach, CA - May 27, 2026: Waymo's new autonomous vehicle, called the Ojai, stops in Venice Beach on Wednesday, May 27, 2026. The all-electric vehicle, equipped with the company's sixth-generation autonomous driving system, is expected to begin limited rides with select customers in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix in the coming weeks. (Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)The news is under embargo until May 28th at 8am.\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779981800_628_.jpeg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>                      <img class=\"image\" alt=\"Venice Beach, CA - May 27, 2026: Waymo's new autonomous vehicle, called the Ojai, drives in Venice Beach on Wednesday, May 27, 2026. The all-electric vehicle, equipped with the company's sixth-generation autonomous driving system, is expected to begin limited rides with select customers in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix in the coming weeks. (Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)The news is under embargo until May 28th at 8am.\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779981801_239_.jpeg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>                      <img class=\"image\" alt=\"Waymo's new autonomous vehicle, called the Ojai.\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779981802_383_.jpeg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>         <\/p>\n<p id=\"media-set-0000019e-6ee5-d4a0-addf-eefd45b20013\" data-element=\"media-set-caption\" class=\"col-span-full mx-5 my-0 font-cms-font-service-text font-medium text-xs leading-3.5 text-cms-color-brand-text lg:mx-0\">  Waymo\u2019s new autonomous vehicle, called the Ojai. (Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times) <\/p>\n<p>The company plans to eventually have tens of thousands of driverless taxis made per year, starting with the Ojai, then scaling using retrofitted Hyundai IONIQ 5s.<\/p>\n<p>The Ojai is manufactured for Waymo by Zeekr, a Chinese automobile company. <\/p>\n<p>Though it appears bulkier than the I-Pace, the Ojai is only 1% larger, the company said. <\/p>\n<p>The Ojai could pave the way for Waymo to <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/business\/story\/2025-06-19\/waymo-tesla-zoox-robotaxi-battle\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">expand more rapidly<\/a> at a lower price, as it costs less to manufacture and outfit than the I-Pace. The company says the new robotaxis have better batteries and are easier to clean and maintain than their predecessors. <\/p>\n<p>The new vehicle also uses self-driving technology more efficiently, the company said, relying on 13 cameras, five lidars and six radar sensors. The I-Pace taxis have 29 cameras. <\/p>\n<p>Waymo\u2019s  sixth-generation \u201cWaymo Driver\u201d system will debut in the Ojai, designed to better handle snowy conditions and other driving situations. . <\/p>\n<p>Last week, Waymo <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/business\/story\/2026-05-22\/waymo-suspends-all-freeway-rides-over-safety\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">suspended its service<\/a> on U.S. freeways due to safety concerns, particularly regarding flooded roads and construction zones. The <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/business\/story\/2026-05-14\/waymo-recalls-thousands-of-its-driverless-cars-after-some-failed-to-avoid-flooded-roads\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">company recalled<\/a> more than 3,000 vehicles in April after several vehicles drove into standing water. The sixth-generation driver aims to fix those bugs. <\/p>\n<p>Waymo is a privately held company owned by Alphabet, Google\u2019s parent company. It is leading the race to put more driverless taxis on the road, pulling ahead of Amazon\u2019s Zoox, Elon Musk\u2019s Tesla and a handful of <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/business\/story\/2026-03-11\/uber-strikes-deal-with-amazons-zoox-for-robotaxi-rides-in-los-angeles\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">efforts from Uber<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Waymo taxis have completed more than 20 million fully autonomous trips in cities including Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami and Nashville. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Waymo is rolling out a new driverless taxi to help the company expand into more cities and tackle&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":828040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,34144,339955,638,339953,339952,2961,224,5337,339949,339950,59218,339948,6228,339954,339951,17228,2452],"class_list":["post-828039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-camera","tag-cheap-robotaxis","tag-company","tag-current-vehicle","tag-i-pace","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-more-city","tag-new-driverless-taxi","tag-new-vehicle","tag-ojai","tag-service","tag-sixth-generation","tag-snowy-road","tag-waymo","tag-week"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116652895584844170","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=828039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/828040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=828039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=828039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=828039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}