After years of testing and verification, self-driving technology company Waymo officially announced today that its sixth-generation robotaxi technology is ready for passenger operations. This new self-driving system will first be open to employees and their relatives and friends in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and will be gradually rolled out to public passengers. The move marks a key step for Waymo to solidify its lead in the self-driving race.
Currently, the Waymo fleet mainly consists of Jaguar I-Pace models, running the company's fifth-generation technology launched in March 2020. However, with Jaguar discontinuing the model at the end of 2024, the existing vehicle platform is approaching the end of its life cycle. To this end, Waymo’s sixth-generation system is designed to seamlessly adapt to a variety of vehicle models. The next-generation technology will be first installed on the Zeekr RT minivan (which has been renamed the "Ojai"), followed by the Hyundai Ioniq 5. In addition, Waymo also revealed that it is negotiating future model cooperation with other automakers, including Toyota.
On a technical level, Waymo said that the sixth-generation system is its smartest and most powerful autonomous driving system to date. Notably, the system has managed to reduce overall costs by reducing the number of sensors, while achieving significant improvements in performance: its cameras are more powerful, its lidar can capture details that cameras might miss, and its improved radar system can better cope with extreme weather conditions.
More importantly, the new generation system is designed for "large-scale mass production." Waymo emphasized that its manufacturing partners have the ability to produce "tens of thousands" of vehicles per year. After proving that it can build a successful Robotaxi business model in multiple markets, Waymo is committed to more rapid scale expansion and plans to enter 20 new cities in 2026.
Satish Jeyachandran, Waymo's vice president of engineering, said in a blog post that the system is designed for long-term growth across multiple vehicle platforms, and its expanded capabilities will allow Waymo to safely expand its footprint in more diverse environments, including those with extreme winter climates. To prove that the sixth-generation technology is ready for the road, Jeyachandran cited a series of data: the technology has been developed for seven years and has completed more than 200 million miles (approximately 320 million kilometers) of testing in more than ten major cities.
