Overview
- Employee and guest trips are now running without safety drivers using the 6th‑generation Waymo Driver on new Ojai vans, with Hyundai Ioniq 5 vehicles next in the rollout.
- The updated stack centers on 17‑megapixel imagers, upgraded lidar and radar, and integrated cleaning systems to improve low‑light perception and performance in rain, sleet and snow.
- Waymo is preparing high‑volume production at its Metro Phoenix facility, targeting a capacity of tens of thousands of Driver units per year across multiple vehicle platforms.
- The company plans to expand into roughly 20 additional cities, including international markets, and projects more than 1 million paid weekly rides by year‑end after averaging about 400,000 per week today.
- Federal probes continue into incidents including a Santa Monica child strike and school‑bus interactions, and lawmakers have questioned the use of China‑built base vehicles; Waymo says it is cooperating and shares no autonomy tech or rider data with suppliers.