{"id":83502,"date":"2025-09-03T14:58:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T18:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=83502"},"modified":"2025-09-03T14:58:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T18:58:08","slug":"los-angeles-waymo-zeekr-van","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=83502","title":{"rendered":"Man Drives Through Los Angeles. Then He Spots a New Waymo Model"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man on TikTok recently shared a glimpse of a Waymo<\/a> cruising through Los Angeles. In the clip, he filmed himself driving alongside one of the company\u2019s autonomous vehicles, noting its sleeker design compared to some of the older robotaxis on the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Waymo on the streets of #LA,\u201d Benjamin Illulian (@deals<\/a>) captioned the video, which had drawn nearly 700 views by Saturday.<\/p>\n

Not everyone was impressed. One commenter bluntly wrote, \u201cHaaate.\u201d But a few detractors haven\u2019t slowed Waymo\u2019s push into Los Angeles\u2014or its plans to expand even further.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>What\u2019s Waymo?\u00a0<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s the company behind the self-driving technology powering Waymo One, a ride-hailing service that replaces human drivers with fully autonomous cars. The company says its mission is to make transportation safer, more accessible, and more sustainable\u2014and it\u2019s betting big that driverless cars are the future.<\/p>\n

Waymo One operates similarly to Uber or Lyft. You open the app, summon a car, and get a ride to wherever you\u2019re going\u2014except there\u2019s no one behind the wheel. The vehicles run on Waymo\u2019s custom hardware and software, and although the service is currently limited to a few cities, expansion plans<\/a> are already in place. Las Vegas and San Diego are on deck this year, with Atlanta, Miami, and Washington, D.C., expected to follow in 2026.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Is There A New Waymo Model?<\/h2>\n

There is. MotorTrend<\/a> reports that a fresh robotaxi has joined Waymo\u2019s fleet\u2014the Zeekr RT minivan. These are the same vans Illulian spotted in his viral clip. With this rollout, Zeekr became the first Chinese car brand to break into the U.S. market.<\/p>\n

Some write-ups<\/a> suggest the vans arrived earlier this year, but MotorTrend notes that customers can\u2019t hail one just yet. That hasn\u2019t stopped them from showing up in Los Angeles neighborhoods, apparently for charging and upkeep.<\/p>\n

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They also come packed with flashy features, making it likely you\u2019ll start spotting more of them on the road soon. And when you open the Waymo app in the months ahead, don\u2019t be surprised if one pulls up.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Is Waymo New To Los Angeles?\u00a0<\/h2>\n

According to CNBC<\/a>, Waymo\u2019s full commercial robotaxi service officially launched in Los Angeles in November 2024, opening its autonomous vehicles to the public through the Waymo One<\/a> app. The rollout first covered<\/a> Santa Monica and parts of downtown before expanding to nearly 80 square miles across Los Angeles County.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The full launch in Los Angeles took more than a full year of testing and incremental expansion. In fall 2023, Waymo began offering rides to a small group of users<\/a> in Los Angeles as part of its driverless trials. Then in March 2024, the service expanded more broadly, albeit still in a limited form, and the company began charging for rides shortly after before launching its full-scale debut in November.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNow is an exciting time to welcome everyone in Los Angeles along for the ride,\u201d Tekedra Mawakana, co-CEO of Waymo, said at the time of the November launch. \u201cOur service has matured quickly, and our riders are embracing the many benefits of fully autonomous driving. We\u2019re so grateful to all of our first riders in LA, and we can\u2019t wait to serve more riders soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no evidence suggesting that the Waymo models in Los Angeles are different from those in, say, Austin or any other city where the robotaxis currently operate. One thing that\u2019s unique about the Waymos in Los Angeles is that they\u2019re aiming to run on freeways<\/a> and, in some cases, are annoying residents<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>How Are Los Angeles\u2019 Residents Reacting?\u00a0<\/h2>\n

According to The Los Angeles Times<\/em>, Waymo has approximately 100 taxis on the road in Los Angeles, still limited to an 80-square-mile zone that stretches from Santa Monica and Marina del Rey to West Hollywood and downtown.<\/p>\n

The cars recently gained the ability to drive on highways, a sign of expansion, but some residents say they\u2019re already fed up. The Verge<\/a> spoke with locals frustrated that certain Waymos have been parking in the same spots for hours at a time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would always come back here, like a beacon,\u201d one resident said. \u201cLike it knew there was a spot here that it could take.\u201d<\/p>\n

Waymo says that\u2019s intentional. A spokesperson told The Verge the cars find \u201cappropriate parking spots to wait\u201d between rides, whether in company facilities or on public streets. And if you live near a high-demand area, you\u2019re more likely to have one camped out nearby.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Waymo vehicles are idle and don\u2019t have charging or maintenance needs, they choose between parking in nearby spots or driving to areas of high demand,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cThis allows us to best match ride-hailing demand and vehicle supply, while conserving energy and reducing traffic congestion.\u201d<\/p>\n

InsideEVs has reached out to Illulian via a direct message on TikTok.<\/p>\n

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A man on TikTok recently shared a glimpse of a Waymo cruising through Los Angeles. In the clip, he filmed himself driving alongside one of the company\u2019s autonomous vehicles, noting its sleeker design compared to some of the older robotaxis on the road. \u201cNew Waymo on the streets of #LA,\u201d Benjamin Illulian (@deals) captioned the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":83503,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-cars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=83502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/83503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}