Waymo has ordered thousands of Chinese-made cars to expand its US robotaxi fleet | Latest Tech News
Waymo has ordered thousands of Chinese-built electric automobiles to quickly expand its nationwide robotaxi fleet – an aggressive gambit that’s stoking considerations about national security and honest competitors among US lawmakers, The Post has discovered.
The Alphabet-owned company’s powder-blue “Ojai” vans – now on the streets of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix and aimed for Denver, Las Vegas and San Diego this fall – are a rebranded model of a vehicle made by Zeekr, a unit of the Chinese Communist Party-linked Geely Holding Group.
Waymo is on tempo to import about 5,100 Ojai automobiles by the end of this 12 months – more than doubling its current fleet, which principally consists of Jaguar I-Pace SUVs, according to monitoring data from research firm MoffettNathanson. The Jaguars are imported from a plant in Austria and outfitted with Waymo’s self-driving tech in Arizona.
The Waymo Ojai autonomous vehicle, a Chinese-made electric vehicle manufactured by Zeekr, travels along a major Los Angeles freeway with a particular person sitting in the motive force’s seat through Hawthorne, California, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026. REUTERS
The deluge is coming despite the fact that the Commerce Department has banned the import or sale of any “connected vehicles” or self-driving software program made in China or Russia beginning in model 12 months 2027. Legislation to formalize a ban is presently under consideration in both chambers of Congress.
Waymo says it complies with federal guidelines by only sourcing bodily automobiles from Zeekr and then including its own sensors and self-driving software program at a plant in Arizona. However, critics say the tie-up stays a obvious financial and national security risk.
Missy Cummings, a former senior security advisor at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration whom Elon Musk once accused of being “extremely biased against Tesla,” told The Post that Waymo’s “carefully curated” attempt to clarify away the Zeekr deal is inadequate.
She also raised doubts about Waymo’s assurances that the Zeekr chassis are completely free of Chinese tech.
“I would have to get in and look at the physical construct of the car to know that that’s absolutely true,” said Cummings, director of George Mason University’s Autonomy and Robotics Center. “It’s very possible that the Chinese have layered in other sensors that are recording data and sending it back to China.”
Missy Cummings is an outspoken critic of Waymo’s self-driving automobiles. Bloomberg via Getty Images
Zeekr, Geely’s luxurious vehicle model, doubled its global gross sales to 251,000 automobiles as of August. While the majority of those gross sales have been in China, Zeekr has just lately eyed growth into new markets like Europe and Latin America.
Waymo’s Zeekr deal poses a dilemma for DC policymakers, well-placed sources told The Post. US auto executives have warned that low-cost Chinese cars pose a major risk to Elon Musk’s Tesla and Detroit’s Big 3 carmakers. But lawmakers also need to keep away from hamstringing Waymo, a frontrunner in the global self-driving car race.
A Waymo spokesperson pushed back on Cummings’ claims, noting that all of its automobiles endure rigorous, cutting-edge security testing to shield the company’s commerce secrets and techniques.
Waymo doesn’t share any data it collects on US-based shoppers with Zeekr or any other base vehicle producer, the spokesperson added. In addition, Waymo doesn’t license its software program to Zeekr, share its source code, or enable any switch of its algorithms or AI fashions.
The Waymo Ojai is increasing to a number of new cities this 12 months. REUTERS
Waymo’s Ojais are among the few Chinese-made automobiles on the street in the US, where authorities guidelines and tariffs of 127.5% have basically shut China out. Polestar, an electric maker that’s majority-owned by Zeekr mum or dad Geely, was barred in June from promoting new cars in the US, though present automobiles can still operate.
Even with the tariffs, TechInstances estimated it prices Waymo between $98,000 to $115,000 to mix a Zeekr-made vehicle chassis with its sensors – in contrast to an estimated $200,000 for Waymo’s Jaguar I-Pace robotaxis.
The Waymo spokesperson said the firm’s choice to source automobiles from Zeekr dates back to 2019. At the time, US producers have been reluctant to work with Waymo due to competing self-driving car tasks, leaving with company with little alternative but to source automobiles from China to keep its growth on monitor, the spokesperson said.
Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, speaks during a marketing campaign event in Youngstown, Ohio, on Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Commerce Department’s guidelines ban the import or sale of any “connected vehicles” or self-driving software program made in China or Russia starting in model 12 months 2027. The same ban on related vehicle {hardware}, such as telematics control items and Bluetooth, cell, satellite tv for pc and Wi-Fi modules, takes impact for model 12 months 2030.
DC insiders who spoke to The Post pointed to current examples where gaps in the availability chain have been weaponized to great impact.
In September, Trump officers revealed that a Chinese transport firm, COSCO, had been utilizing hid tools on its ships to spy on army communications – including those of the US, GWN reported. Elsewhere, Israel turned heads around the world in 2024 when it surreptitiously rigged thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah to explode.
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) and Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) are co-sponsoring a bipartisan invoice that would close the loophole that enabled Waymo’s Zeekr deal by banning the import of any vehicle manufactured in China – even if a US company provides their own software program and sensors after the fact.
Rep. John Moolenaar is chair of the House Select Committee on China. CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
In the House, China Select Committee Chair John Moolenaar has launched companion laws.
Moolenaar outlined nightmare situations that may come up from having more Chinese-made automobiles on US roads during a listening to last December – warning that “hidden malware could disable fleets of cars and trucks or turn them into battering rams on wheels.”
“China cheats on trade and threatens our national security,” Moolenaar said in a assertion. “We cannot allow its vehicles into our country, or it will use that opportunity to bankrupt US companies, cause massive job losses, undermine the security of our infrastructure, and hollow out the foundation of our nation’s manufacturing base. The total effect would leave our country more dependent on China for everything we need.”
Both payments present an off ramp for Waymo in the shape of a three-year grace period in which the company can part out its Chinese-made automobiles. If it turns into law, the invoice would require Waymo to come into compliance by 2030.
Waymo said it doesn’t share any data or source code with China. REUTERS
In a assertion to The Post, Moreno said permitting the import of “Chinese cars can be a cancer to the American market as these CCP sponsored predators are quickly dominating global markets as Western governments are too weak to battle back.
“My top priority is protecting our American auto industry and auto workers from unfair foreign predators by sealing off the border permanently and avoiding the peril of globalization – the future of the American auto industry depends on it,” Moreno added.
A Waymo spokesperson said the company “strongly supports the Department of Commerce’s BIS connected vehicle rule and legislative efforts to address the national security concerns about foreign connected vehicle technology.”
“For any base vehicle Waymo uses, Waymo actively takes steps to ensure that they are in compliance with the government’s connected vehicle rules,” the Waymo spokesperson said in a assertion.
“Additionally, Waymo does not share personally identifiable information about Waymo riders, Waymo vehicle telemetry data, or data collected through Waymo’s automated driving system with vehicle manufacturers.”
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