Waymo Ojai
Waymo's new purpose-built robotaxi — an "oasis on wheels" designed around the rider; the first vehicle to debut the 6th-generation Waymo Driver.
Applications
- Autonomous ride-hailing (robotaxi)
The Waymo Driver is an autonomous (self-driving) system developed by Waymo, comprising a full stack of perception, localization, motion planning and control, based on a sensor suite (lidar, cameras, radar) and machine-learning models. The system operates at SAE Level 4 autonomy — fully driverless within defined operational domains.
The sixth generation of the Waymo Driver is an evolution of a proven technology that has already completed over 20 million fully autonomous trips across 11+ cities. It debuts for the first time in the new, purpose-built Waymo Ojai vehicle, unveiled in 2026. Waymo is developing this generation with a view to scaling its robotaxi service to more cities.
A Control Stack is the set of software components responsible for control logic, motion planning, command execution, and coordination of a robot's actuators. It receives high-level goals or waypoints (from planning or AI layers) and translates them into low-level actuator commands, closed-loop feedback control, and safety checks. Common implementations include MoveIt (arm manipulation), Nav2 (mobile navigation), and custom whole-body control stacks for humanoids.
A Perception Stack encompasses the software layers that process data from cameras, LiDARs, IMUs, microphones, and other sensors in order to recognise the surrounding environment, perform localisation, detect and track objects, and interpret the scene. It is typically the first processing stage in an autonomous robot's data pipeline, feeding its outputs to planning and control stacks.
Robot Control denotes the role of software responsible for motion control, command execution, coordination of actuating elements and the direct operational logic of the robot.