Here Comes Ojai, Waymo’s New Chinese-Made Robotaxi

Waymo 推出新款中国制造自动驾驶出租车：Ojai

There’s a new autonomous vehicle in town, or at least in the towns of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix. Starting in the next few weeks, Alphabet self-driving vehicle developer Waymo will start picking up members of the public in its new Ojai vehicles (pronounced “oh hai”)—pale blue boxy minivans studded with sensors and complete with steering wheels, even though they’re designed to travel without drivers. For now, the rides in these new cars, which can be summoned through Waymo’s app, will be free.

城里出现了一款新的自动驾驶汽车，至少在洛杉矶、旧金山和凤凰城是这样。在接下来的几周内，Alphabet 旗下的自动驾驶汽车开发商 Waymo 将开始使用其新款 Ojai 车型（发音为“oh hai”）接载公众。这是一款淡蓝色的方型小型货车，车身布满传感器，并配有方向盘，尽管它们的设计初衷是实现无人驾驶。目前，用户可以通过 Waymo 应用程序呼叫这些新车，且乘车费用全免。

It’s been a long road for the vehicle, first announced by Waymo in 2021 and tested on public streets since 2024. It’s also a weird time for Waymo: The self-driving-vehicle company, which is trying to expand quickly across the US and the world, shut down service in six US cities last week due to issues with how its vehicles react to flooding. It has also suspended its highway driving program due to concerns about operations near construction zones.

这款车的发展历程漫长，Waymo 于 2021 年首次宣布该车型，并自 2024 年起在公共道路上进行测试。对于 Waymo 来说，现在也是一个微妙的时期：这家正试图在美国及全球快速扩张的自动驾驶公司，上周因车辆在应对洪水时的表现问题，暂停了在六个美国城市的服务。此外，由于对施工区域附近运营安全的担忧，该公司还暂停了其高速公路驾驶项目。

Why?

为什么？

For nearly a decade now, Waymo has tested and deployed its autonomous driving technology in cars designed for human drivers. Waymo began its services with the Chrysler Pacifica hybrid and moved to the all-electric Jaguar I-Pace in 2018. The Ojai, though, is something new: a vehicle built specifically for autonomy.

近十年来，Waymo 一直在为人类驾驶员设计的汽车上测试和部署其自动驾驶技术。Waymo 最初使用克莱斯勒 Pacifica 混合动力车提供服务，并于 2018 年转向全电动捷豹 I-Pace。然而，Ojai 是一个全新的产物：它是专门为自动驾驶而打造的车辆。

Ojai’s debut also marks the introduction of Waymo’s newest hardware and software system. The update, Waymo has said, “leverages breakthroughs in AI” and, like previous systems, combines inputs of three different kinds of sensors: cameras, lidar, and radar.

Ojai 的亮相也标志着 Waymo 最新软硬件系统的推出。Waymo 表示，此次更新“利用了人工智能的突破”，并像之前的系统一样，结合了三种不同传感器的输入：摄像头、激光雷达和雷达。

Waymo seems to envision the updated tech as the driver (pun intended) behind its big expansion push. The company currently operates in 11 US markets and plans to launch its service in at least 20 different new regions, including London and Tokyo. The system is “designed for long-term growth across multiple vehicle platforms,” Satish Jeyachandran, the company’s vice president of engineering, wrote earlier this year. He said the new design should allow the company to expand into different environments, including ones with brutal winters—historically a technical challenge for robots.

Waymo 似乎将这项升级后的技术视为其大规模扩张背后的“驱动力”（双关语）。该公司目前在 11 个美国市场运营，并计划在包括伦敦和东京在内的至少 20 个新地区推出服务。公司工程副总裁 Satish Jeyachandran 今年早些时候写道，该系统“旨在实现跨多个车辆平台的长期增长”。他表示，新设计应能使公司扩展到不同的环境，包括那些冬季严酷的地区——这在历史上一直是机器人技术面临的挑战。

About the name: Ojai is named after the hippy but upscale Ventura County village known for its arts community.

关于命名：Ojai 以文图拉县一个嬉皮但高端的村庄命名，该村庄以其艺术社区而闻名。

What’s Different About This One?

这款车有什么不同？

Ojai definitely looks different from the Waymos that came before. The cabin is larger and has more legroom than its Jaguar predecessor, and there are charging ports and cup holders. Waymo says the vehicle is more accessible to people with disabilities thanks to flat floors, low step-in height, and grab bars. (The vehicles are not wheelchair-accessible.) Waymo says the vehicle cabin is easier to clean, too. The company says the vehicle’s features should speed up its operational efficiency: It’s quicker to charge and has a modular design that makes repairs easier.

Ojai 的外观与之前的 Waymo 车型截然不同。与前代捷豹车型相比，它的车厢更大，腿部空间更充裕，并配有充电接口和杯架。Waymo 表示，得益于平坦的地板、较低的踏板高度和扶手，该车对残障人士更加友好。（该车不支持轮椅直接进入。）Waymo 还表示，车厢更容易清洁。公司称，这些特性将提高运营效率：充电速度更快，且模块化设计使维修更加简便。

Who Made This Car?

谁制造了这辆车？

Here’s where it gets interesting: The Ojai is a modified version of a “mobility platform” made by leading Chinese new-energy vehicle manufacturer Geely. More specifically, the car’s shell is built by Geely sub-brand Zeekr, which has sold cars internationally since 2023 and is now in markets across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. Notably, Zeekr is not currently in the US market, where these Ojai vehicles will operate.

有趣的地方来了：Ojai 是由中国领先的新能源汽车制造商吉利制造的“移动平台”的改装版。更具体地说，该车的车壳由吉利旗下品牌极氪（Zeekr）制造。极氪自 2023 年起开始在国际上销售汽车，目前市场覆盖欧洲、亚洲、中东和拉丁美洲。值得注意的是，极氪目前尚未进入美国市场，而这些 Ojai 车辆却将在美国运营。

Waymo says the bare-bones vehicles are manufactured in China and then shipped to Waymo’s Arizona facility, where the US-built autonomous systems are added on US soil. Waymo spokesperson Sandy Karp says the company is building toward pumping out tens of thousands of driverless-ready vehicles annually.

Waymo 表示，这些基础车辆在中国制造，然后运往 Waymo 的亚利桑那州工厂，在那里安装美国制造的自动驾驶系统。Waymo 发言人 Sandy Karp 表示，公司正致力于实现每年生产数万辆具备无人驾驶能力的车辆。

Wait—I Thought Chinese Cars Weren’t Allowed in the US?

等等——我以为中国汽车不允许进入美国？

This is still (kind of) true. Last January, the Biden administration finalized rules barring Chinese- and Russian-connected vehicle tech from US roads starting in 2027. At the time, the US government said that this foreign-connected-car tech represented a national security threat; it didn’t hurt that American carmakers were increasingly threatened by cheap and well-made vehicles manufactured in China. Chinese-made cars are also effectively blocked from the American market by high tariffs.

这在某种程度上仍然属实。去年 1 月，拜登政府敲定了相关规定，禁止中国和俄罗斯相关的车辆技术从 2027 年起进入美国道路。当时，美国政府称这种与外国关联的汽车技术构成了国家安全威胁；此外，美国汽车制造商日益受到中国制造的廉价且优质汽车的威胁，这也是原因之一。中国制造的汽车也因高额关税实际上被挡在了美国市场之外。

But the prohibitions don’t apply to Waymo, the company says, because Zeekr only manufactures the “base vehicle” and doesn’t include any telematics or connected software systems, which are added in the US.

但 Waymo 表示，这些禁令并不适用于他们，因为极氪只负责制造“基础车辆”，不包含任何远程信息处理或联网软件系统，这些系统都是在美国添加的。

Still, the autonomous vehicle developer has received flak from politicians for its involvement with Geely and Zeekr. In a February US congressional hearing, one Republican senator criticized the company for “getting in bed with China.”

尽管如此，这家自动驾驶开发商因与吉利和极氪的合作而受到政界人士的抨击。在二月份的一次美国国会听证会上，一位共和党参议员批评该公司“与中国勾结”。

Whatever your feelings about the partnership, Ojai’s launch will likely give many US riders their first interactions with Chinese-made cars.

无论你对这种合作关系有何看法，Ojai 的推出很可能会让许多美国乘客首次接触到中国制造的汽车。

You Say Rides Are Free?

你说乘车是免费的？

For now, yes. Waymo spokesperson Sandy Karp writes that a period of gratis rides will help the company “gather rider feedback and continue refining the experience.”

目前是的。Waymo 发言人 Sandy Karp 表示，一段免费乘车期将有助于公司“收集乘客反馈并持续优化体验”。

But there’s another reason for the free rides, at least in California: Though Waymo has a permit to operate the driverless Ojai vehicles in the state, it doesn’t yet have permission to carry paying passengers inside them. That authorization is still being considered by a state regulator, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which before approving the vehicle asked Waymo to respond to questions about how the company handles unaccompanied minors illegally riding in its cars, plus its approach to major disruptions and natural disasters, like the late 2025 San Francisco power outage that stranded Waymos across the city. The CPUC will make a decision about the Ojai, and about a proposed Waymo expansion into the East Bay and parts of Southern California, by June 27.

但免费乘车还有另一个原因，至少在加利福尼亚州是这样：尽管 Waymo 拥有在该州运营无人驾驶 Ojai 车辆的许可，但尚未获得搭载付费乘客的许可。该授权目前正由州监管机构——加州公用事业委员会 (CPUC) 进行审议。在批准该车型之前，CPUC 要求 Waymo 回答有关公司如何处理未成年人非法单独乘车的问题，以及如何应对重大干扰和自然灾害（例如 2025 年底导致 Waymo 车辆在全市范围内滞留的旧金山停电事件）。CPUC 将于 6 月 27 日前就 Ojai 车型以及 Waymo 拟向东湾和南加州部分地区的扩张计划做出决定。