You can now ride a Chinese EV in the US as Waymo opens Zeekr Ojai to all

This isn't really an energy-efficiency story for your home, but here's the news in plain terms: Waymo, the robotaxi company, has opened its newest self-driving vehicle, called the Ojai, to all riders in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. The Ojai's body is built in China by Zeekr, a Chinese EV brand owned by Geely. That makes it one of the only ways an American could ride in a Chinese-made car, since US tariffs and an upcoming federal rule keep Chinese EVs off dealer lots.

Waymo strips the Chinese connectivity and sensor hardware out of each vehicle and replaces it with its own US-designed computer and sensor system before putting the cars into service, largely at a facility in Mesa, Arizona. Even after paying roughly a 127.5% tariff, Waymo says the Ojai still costs less than half what its current Jaguar-based robotaxis cost, because the base vehicle is cheap and the sensor package has gotten smaller and less expensive.

The Ojai is a van-style vehicle with a flat floor, wide doors, extra legroom, and accessibility features like grab bars and braille labels. Waymo already has close to a thousand of them staged for its roughly dozen-city robotaxi service and plans to bring the vehicle to Denver, San Diego, and Las Vegas later this year. None of this changes what EVs you can buy or any home energy program, but it's a window into how cheap Chinese-made EV parts are reshaping the robotaxi business.