The new Waymo's sixth-generation technology It has become the cornerstone of the next phase of growth for Alphabet's robotaxis company. After years of testing and limited deployments, this system takes a leap forward in autonomy, cost reduction, and the ability to operate in more complex environments.
Although it is not yet available in Spain or the rest of continental Europe, the firm is already looking towards this side of the Atlantic. Expansion plans to major capitals like LondonThis, along with its progressive rollout into new cities in the United States and Asia, positions Waymo as one of the most influential players in the race for autonomous vehicles.
What does the sixth-generation Waymo Driver offer?
Waymo defines its new system as the main engine of a new stage of expansionThanks to a simpler hardware configuration, with fewer components and a lower cost, the company emphasizes that this reduction in complexity does not imply lowering the bar for security, which remains the central argument of its proposal.
According to the company, the Sixth generation Waymo Driver This is the result of approximately seven years of driverless commercial operations, during which its vehicles have accumulated nearly 320 million fully autonomous kilometers. These journeys have been made in densely populated urban centers of more than ten major cities and on an expanding highway network, allowing the company to train artificial intelligence models with a volume of data uncommon in the industry.
The company itself insists that, at this point, they have confirmed a key principle: A reliable AI system needs very robust and varied data.That's why they've worked in extreme scenarios, from heavy rush hour traffic to adverse weather conditions, with the aim of minimizing unexpected vehicle behavior.
This sixth generation is based on the previous fifth-generation architecture, but with a thorough overhaul of sensors, processing, and system design. The goal is to achieve greater perception and decision-making capacity with fewer physical elementssimplifying the vehicle and facilitating its large-scale production.
A vision system that aims to go beyond the human eye
The new Waymo Driver integrates a set of custom multimodal sensors, high-resolution cameras, and advanced imaging radarThe company claims that its vision system not only matches, but far surpasses what a person behind the wheel or a conventional car camera system can perceive.
The new cameras, with a resolution of 17 megapixelsThey capture millions of additional data points compared to the previous generation. This quality improvement allows the vehicle to require fewer cameras to cover its entire surroundings, reducing the total number of devices to less than half compared to the previous system, while maintaining—or even increasing—the level of detail.
In addition to recognizing common semantic elements—such as traffic light colors, traffic signs, road markings, or the presence of pedestrians and cyclists—the system is designed to operate with a very high dynamic rangeAccording to Waymo, this allows it to extract relevant details from shadowed areas even when it receives intense reflections from headlights, high beams, or other very powerful lights, such as those from emergency vehicles.
Another key point is the integration of automatic cleaning functions and sensor protectionThe vision modules incorporate systems that actively clean the surface in case of dirt, rain splashes or snow accumulation, preventing the field of vision from deteriorating with daily use.
In parallel, the LiDAR and sixth-generation radar act as backups when the cameras struggle, for example, in very low visibility. Waymo claims that these depth sensors are able to "see" clearly in situations where the camera gathers little useful information, thus reinforcing the system's redundancy.
Fewer sensors, lower costs, and better winter performance
One of the messages the company repeats most often is that this sixth generation was created with the economic efficiency and scalabilityBy requiring significantly fewer cameras, and using simpler and more affordable LiDAR and radar sensors, the cost per vehicle is reduced.
Waymo explains that its New LiDAR systems and radars have become more efficient and have decreased in price.This makes it easier to equip larger fleets without significantly increasing the initial investment. This cost saving, combined with a more compact hardware architecture, aims to bring the autonomous robotaxis business model closer to profitability in the medium term.
The artificial intelligence that governs the system runs on proprietary processorsOptimized for the needs of real-time autonomous driving, this computing platform works with large volumes of sensor data, anticipating trajectories, assessing risks, and making driving decisions with very low latency.
One of the great historical challenges of autonomous vehicles has been the behavior in severe winter conditionsIn this generation, Waymo claims to have significantly improved the system's response in scenarios of heavy rain, snow, or low temperatures, where reflections, slippery surfaces, and unpredictable elements on the road are common.
With these improvements, the company hopes its robotaxis can operate in more varied and demanding climatic environmentsThis expands the range of cities and regions where its service can be viable, something especially relevant for its future arrival in Europe, where the climate changes drastically from one country to another.
Compatible vehicles: from the Ojai to the Hyundai Ioniq 5
The sixth generation of the Waymo Driver isn't limited to a single car model. The company has begun rolling it out in new vehicles. Ojai robotaxis, manufactured by the Chinese company Geely (also known as Zeekr RT), specifically designed to operate as driverless passenger transport vehicles.
In parallel, Waymo is integrating this technology into the Hyundai Ioniq 5 electric SUVsThis model has already become a standard platform for autonomous driving tests in various markets. This multi-platform strategy aims to offer greater flexibility in adapting the service to different urban environments and capacity needs.
Meanwhile, the fleet of Jaguar I-Pace The vehicles that have accompanied the company in previous stages will continue using the fifth generation of the autonomous driving system. These vehicles remain in service, but will not be massively upgraded to the new technology, marking a generational shift within the Waymo fleet.
According to the company, the production of sixth-generation components is concentrated in its Phoenix plant, in the United StatesFrom there, Waymo aims to equip tens of thousands of vehicles per year, which, on paper, opens the door to much faster growth in new cities.
Beyond the technical aspects, this generational leap also entails logistical and operational changes, as the company needs to adapt maintenance, team training, and fleet management to a system with different hardware and new procedures diagnostic and updating.
Cities where Waymo operates and upcoming destinations
Waymo's fully autonomous robotaxi service is currently operating commercially in several major US cities. The company states that its technology is active in San Francisco, Austin, Phoenix, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Miamiwhere it offers safe, driverless travel.
With the sixth generation as its foundation, Waymo has set itself an ambitious goal: deploy its service in 20 new cities in the short term. Among the candidates mentioned are major capitals such as London and Tokyo, which would place the company operating regularly in Europe and Asia for the first time with its new technology.
In Europe, the hypothetical arrival in London would have an effect of a benchmark for the rest of the European marketsAlthough there are no specific announcements about the arrival in MadridWhether in Barcelona or other Spanish cities, expansion into a major European capital often serves as a laboratory for future regulatory and commercial agreements in the region.
The company has also announced that its employees and selected guests Waymo now offers its sixth-generation driver in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, as a step toward a general public launch. This internal testing phase allows them to refine service details and gather additional data before scaling up.
Waymo insists that its goal is to open these new services to the public. throughout the yearprovided that regulatory and safety conditions are favorable, something that, in the European case, will depend largely on the regulatory evolution on autonomous cars and on discussions with local authorities.
Safety, incident investigation and competition in the sector
Despite its focus on innovation, the company also faces intense scrutiny. In the United States, authorities have opened investigations following incidents involving Waymo robotaxis, such as the case of a vehicle that hit a minor near a school in Santa Monica.
According to the information provided, the car slowed down rapidly, going from about 17 miles per hour to less than 6 before the impact, but even so, the incident has led the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to analyze whether the precautionary protocols were sufficientespecially in school zones with children present.
In parallel, there have been reports of cases in which some of the company's autonomous vehicles allegedly failed to stop correctly in front of school busesThis has raised new questions about how the system interprets certain sensitive traffic scenarios. These incidents have not gone unnoticed and are part of the public debate on the coexistence of robotaxis and pedestrians.
Waymo, for its part, argues that its accumulated data on fully autonomous driving supports a balance of favorable safety compared to human drivingThe company maintains that incidents are analyzed in depth to adjust behaviors and prevent recurrence. It insists that, in such a comprehensive system, every real-world situation serves as a learning opportunity to improve the AI.
The competitive landscape is also significant. Other major players are active in the field of autonomous driving, such as Uber, which is working on its own robotaxis supported by Nvidia technology, or the anticipated robotaxis services of Teslawhich are already being tested on a limited basis in a US city. This pressure adds urgency to Waymo's expansion, which needs to consolidate its position while the regulatory framework is still being defined.
Given this scenario, the sixth-generation Waymo Driver presents itself as a strong contender to combine technological maturity, cost reduction and geographical expansionIf the deployment plans materialize and the authorities give the green light in key markets such as Europe, it wouldn't be surprising if in a few years seeing Waymo robotaxis in cities like London or, later on, in Spanish capitals, ceases to be a futuristic image and becomes part of the everyday urban landscape.
