First Sighting of Waymo’s New Zeekr Vehicle

Slowly but surely, things are moving in the world of robotaxis. While traditional vehicle platforms are still being used by robotaxi fleets, i.e. vehicles that still have steering wheels and pedals for a human driver, vehicles developed specifically for driverless robotaxi fleets are slowly becoming visible in the wild.

For example, one of the Zeekr vehicles that Waymo is deploying for the next platform generation, which was first unveiled at CES 2023, has now been spotted in San Francisco. Still with camouflage foiling, but already with sensor setups.

It is interesting to note that the lateral sensor arrangement is quite different from the previous ones, as the following comparison shows. The large rear-view mirror-like superstructures, which combine several sensors, are striking. This was certainly not the case with the vehicle variant presented at CES 2023.

This is reminiscent of the approach taken by Kodiak, which mounts similar large rear-view mirror/sensor combinations on its autonomous trucks.

UPDATE: Here is an official photo of the Zeekr vehicle with the new sensor arrangements from a different perspective.

Today, the 5th-generation Waymo Driver provides more than 50,000 trips to paying riders weekly. To bring the benefits of our life-saving technology to even more people, please meet our 6th-generation Waymo Driver as it begins sensor testing and validation. pic.twitter.com/tPgaFqCdY7

— Waymo (@Waymo) June 17, 2024

As well as this image, posted by reddit-user daruma3gakoronda:

This article was also published in German.