Waymo’s latest self-driving vehicle rollout highlights a growing cost and deployment gap between Alphabet’s autonomous unit and Tesla’s robotaxi ambitions.
At CES, Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet $GOOGL ( ▲ 1.08% ) , introduced its newest autonomous van, the Zeekr-built Ojai. The vehicle is expected to cost roughly $125,000, a sharp reduction from earlier Waymo models that relied on expensive sensors and luxury base vehicles. The lower price point is designed to make large-scale deployment more economically viable as Waymo expands into more than 20 planned markets this year.
Waymo is lowering costs while staying fully driverless
The Ojai is built exclusively for Waymo by Zeekr, owned by Geely Automobile Holdings $GELYY ( ▲ 2.31% ) . While a consumer version of the van sells for about $38,000, analysts estimate that Waymo’s sixth-generation autonomous hardware adds roughly $85,000 in additional cost. That still represents a significant improvement over previous Waymo vehicles, which paired high-end Jaguar I-Pace models with costly sensor stacks.
Waymo says it achieved these savings by reducing sensor complexity and streamlining manufacturing. Importantly, these vehicles operate without safety drivers. Waymo currently has more than 2,500 fully autonomous vehicles running across five US cities.
Tesla remains cheaper but less autonomous
Tesla $TSLA ( ▲ 1.02% ) continues to pursue a software-first approach, aiming to turn its existing vehicles into robotaxis. Morgan Stanley estimates Tesla’s robotaxi hardware costs around $36,000 per vehicle, with its upcoming Cybercab potentially closer to $25,000.
However, Tesla’s robotaxis still require safety drivers and operate in limited markets. By contrast, Waymo has already reached large-scale driverless deployment, giving it a real-world operational lead.
The bottom line
Waymo is narrowing the cost gap while maintaining full autonomy. Tesla still holds a pricing advantage, but its timeline for removing safety drivers remains uncertain. The next phase of the robotaxi race hinges on which company can close its remaining gap first: Waymo on cost, or Tesla on autonomy.