Waymo Begins Rollout of the Ojai

At Waymo, the next generation of vehicles is about to be made available to passengers. The approximately 3,800 Jaguar I-Paces used to date were set to be phased out by December 2024 at the latest, when production was scheduled to end. New vehicle platforms are needed to address shortcomings in the I-Pace, such as the lack of power-operated doors.

The Zeekr RT, a vehicle resembling a VW bus and a brand that, like Polestar or Volvo, belongs to the Chinese Geely Group, was already unveiled at CES 2023. At CES back then, it was even shown without a steering wheel. At the latest when news broke of a large shipment of vehicles to be equipped with sensors at the Waymo factory in Mesa, Arizona, it became clear that the vehicles would likely be put into service soon. More and more of these vehicles also began appearing in depots in San Francisco, as this video shows:

Waymo has now officially announced that the Ojai vehicles—as Waymo calls them, pronounced “Oh hi!”—will soon be available to passengers in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, followed by Denver, Las Vegas, and San Diego, until all operating regions are equipped with them. Initially, the Ojais will be available for free and will still be equipped with a steering wheel.

Notable features include accessibility. Braille and compatibility with screen readers have been integrated, along with a grab bar built into the seat for additional support when getting in and out. The vehicles are also designed to be more spacious and feature electric sliding doors.

It is also the first vehicle platform to use the 6th-generation Waymo Driver, which requires fewer and more compact sensors, making it more cost-effective.

This article was also published in German.