Autonomous Car

The fleet

As of Oct 10, 2026, Waymo lists two vehicles in its fleet: the Jaguar I-PACE and the Ojai. A third, the Hyundai IONIQ 5, is testing and not yet carrying public riders. [1, 11]

Jaguar I-PACEOjaiHyundai IONIQ 5

Jaguar I-PACE

Status

In public service as of Oct 10, 2026. Riders have access to all-electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles operated by the 5th-generation Waymo Driver. [1]

Driver

5th-generation Waymo Driver [1]

Vehicle

An all-electric Jaguar I-PACE fitted with Waymo’s 5th-generation sensors. [1, 3]

Sensors

• Lidar. A 360 lidar on the roof for the bird’s-eye view, plus short-range perimeter lidars at four points around the sides of the vehicle. [3]

• Cameras. 29 cameras: long-range cameras and a 360 vision system, perimeter cameras for objects close to the car, and peripheral cameras that reduce blind spots caused by parked cars or large vehicles. [2, 3]

• Radar. Imaging radar that measures an object’s speed, including objects that are barely moving or stopped, in rain, fog, and snow. These sources do not give a radar count. [3]

• Compute. Packaged under the trunk, leaving the trunk free for riders’ luggage. [4]

Roof dome and four perimeter lidar points follow Waymo’s description; the exact positions in the drawing are approximate. [3]

Ojai

Status

In public service, rolling out as of Oct 10, 2026. The first vehicle to debut the 6th-generation Driver. Waymo is rolling it out; Las Vegas, Denver, and San Diego are the first cities with majority-Ojai fleets. [1, 7, 8]

Driver

6th-generation Waymo Driver [1, 7]

Vehicle

Waymo’s vehicle built for ride-hailing. Its responder guide draws on Zeekr’s guide for the Zeekr RT. [1, 9]

Sensors

• Cameras. A 17-megapixel imager with integrated cleaning. Waymo says these outperform the 5th-generation cameras with less than half as many. [6]

• Lidar. Lidar that sees farther with better fidelity, plus short-range lidars that pair accurate distances with camera images close to the car. [6]

• Radar. Imaging radar that tracks the distance, speed, and size of objects in all lighting and weather. [6]

• Audio receivers. External audio receivers around the central perception dome hear sirens and locate where they are coming from. [6]

• Announced count. Waymo announced the 6th-generation suite with 13 cameras, 4 lidar, 6 radar, and an array of external audio receivers. It also says it reconfigures the sensors for each vehicle, so this page does not claim a count for this one. [5, 6]

Waymo’s responder guide shows a roof assembly with front and rear sensor housings; the exact positions in the drawing are approximate. [9]

Hyundai IONIQ 5

Status

Testing, not yet carrying public riders as of Oct 10, 2026. Waymo’s July 2026 update says its IONIQ 5 fleet has begun driving autonomously with an autonomous specialist present. Waymo’s FAQ lists only the I-PACE and the Ojai as its fleet. [11, 1]

Driver

6th-generation Waymo Driver [10, 6]

Vehicle

Hyundai’s all-electric IONIQ 5, assembled at Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America in Georgia and then fitted with the Waymo Driver. [10]

Sensors

• Cameras. The 6th-generation cameras, arranged for this platform. [6]

• Lidar. The 6th-generation lidar, including short-range units, arranged for this platform. [6]

• Radar. The 6th-generation imaging radar. [6]

• Audio receivers. External audio receivers for sirens. [6]

• Announced count. Waymo announced the 6th-generation suite with 13 cameras, 4 lidar, 6 radar, and an array of external audio receivers. It also says it reconfigures the sensors for each vehicle, so this page does not claim a count for this one. [5, 6]

Waymo has not published this vehicle’s sensor layout in these sources; the drawing shows a roof dome and corner housings as an illustration only. [10, 6]

Where riders can ride, as of Oct 10, 2026: Dallas, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Orlando, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Tampa, plus Austin and Atlanta through Uber. [1]

How it works

Waymo describes the Driver as hardware (lidar, cameras, radar, and an AI computer) and software that answers four questions: where am I, what’s around me, what will happen next, and what should I do. [1]

1. 01

   Map and localize

   Where am I?

   Before driving a new area, Waymo maps it in detail: lane markers, stop signs, curbs, and crosswalks. [2]

   Instead of relying only on GPS, which can lose signal, the Driver matches those maps with live sensor data to work out exactly where it is on the road. [2]

2. 02

   Perceive

   What’s around me?

   Lidar, cameras, and radar give overlapping, complementary views. Lidar times millions of laser pulses to paint a 3D picture, cameras spot traffic lights and construction zones, and radar measures distance and speed in rain, fog, and snow. [2, 5]

   The perception system turns that data into the things around the car, from pedestrians and cyclists to vehicles and construction, and responds to signs and signals such as temporary stop signs. [2]

   External audio receivers listen for sirens, and the Driver can often tell which way a siren is moving before it can see the vehicle. [6]

3. 03

   Predict

   What will happen next?

   The Driver anticipates what other road users might do. It treats a car differently from a cyclist or a pedestrian and predicts the many paths each one could take. [2]

4. 04

   Plan

   What should I do?

   It combines the map, the objects around it, and where they might go, then chooses the trajectory, speed, lane, and steering needed to drive safely. [2]

5. 05

   Control

   The plan becomes steering and braking on hardware with backups: steering with a secondary drive motor, independent controllers, and separate power; a full secondary braking system; and independent power for each critical driving system. [2]

Safety approach

• A secondary computer runs in the background, ready to bring the car to a safe stop if the primary system fails. Independent collision-avoidance systems watch ahead and behind, and two inertial measurement systems cross-check the car’s motion. [2]
• Software is tested on private closed courses (more than 40,000 unique scenarios), on public roads, and in more than 20 billion miles of simulation. [2]
• The cars drive without a human only inside geofenced areas where they have been tested and validated. Widespread snow or ice on the road is one condition that limits autonomous operation. [9]
• Through June 2026, Waymo reports 271.3 million rider-only miles. Against an average human driver over the same distance in its cities, regardless of fault, it reports 82% fewer injury-causing crashes and 95% fewer crashes with serious injuries or worse. [12]