Waymo Hits The Big Million.
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Welcome to the Ride AI newsletter: your weekly digest of news and intelligence at the intersection of technology and transportation.
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Now, Here’s What You Need To Know Today.
Waymo has achieved 1,000,000+ trips a month.
Public data from the California Public Utilities Commission shows that Waymo serviced 1,016,546 autonomous trips in September of this year. This represents a more than 15% jump from August, during which the company serviced 880,643 trips. Comparing data from July during which the company serviced 778,812 trips with a growth rate of 13%, the growth rate for rides seems to be increasing at a steady pace.
The company also announced on Monday that it has started testing its Hyundai Ioniq 5 ride vehicle with its 6th generation Waymo Driver in San Francisco. The vehicles are camouflaged for now, similar to how the company camouflaged its Zeekr ride vehicles when it initially started testing those in San Francisco last year. Waymo had previously stated that it would start testing the Hyundai ride vehicles by the end of 2026, so the company is seemingly on schedule.
With the Zeekr ride vehicles also sporting the 6th generation Waymo Driver nearing validation completeness, we might be seeing the Hyundai ride vehicles servicing public passengers before long.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk says production of the Cybercab will begin in April.
Speaking at Tesla’s shareholder meeting, Musk said the purpose-built robotaxi, to be produced at the company’s Austin factory, is optimized for the lowest cost-per-mile operation and will be produced on a line with an unprecedented 10-second cycle time… far faster than Tesla’s current Model Y assembly process. Musk suggested that the company could produce as many as three million Cybercabs a year once fully ramped up.
The announcement came shortly after shareholders approved Musk’s record-setting compensation package, valued at up to $1 trillion in stock. His remarks, however, appear to contradict statements by Tesla chairwoman Robyn Denholm, who recently said the Cybercab would include a steering wheel and pedals as backups. Tesla’s current robotaxi service in Austin uses Model Y SUVs running its “unsupervised” Full Self-Driving software, still with safety monitors in the passenger seat, and the company’s definitely-not-a-robotaxi-service in San Francisco uses the same Model Y SUVs with safety drivers in the driver’s seat.
The Cybercab’s design will require going through federal approval before it can operate without standard driving controls, a process that has proved challenging for other automakers. Both Amazon’s Zoox and GM’s Cruise had sought similar exemptions for their custom-built robotaxis, with Zoox only recently allowed an exemption. However, Musk thanked Waymo for “paving the path” and said he expects regulators to ease restrictions as autonomous vehicles become more commonplace.
Chinese car manufacturer XPeng plans to launch its own robotaxi vehicles.
Announced during the company’s 2025 AI Day in Guangzhou, founder, CEO, and namesake of the company He Xiaopeng said the upcoming robotaxi lineup will include 5-, 6-, and 7-seat models built from the ground up for autonomous driving. The vehicles will rely on a vision-only perception system powered by XPeng’s in-house Turing AI chips, and will deliver what the company calls the highest level achieved in an individual vehicle globally: up to 3,000 TOPS of computing power. The company also plans to open its robotaxi SDK to partners worldwide, starting with Amap, a leading mapping data provider in China, as its first global collaborator, to jointly expand robotaxi services in international markets. In addition to opening up its robotaxi SDK, XPeng also announced that Volkswagen will become a launch partner of its Turing AI chips.
XPeng also made several consumer-facing announcements at AI Day. The company will introduce a self-driving trim level to its consumer vehicles, named “Robo”, next year, which the company says will share the same hardware and software platforms as its robotaxi fleet. In addition, XPeng is also introducing several autonomy-oriented pedestrian-facing features, including a sun-visor-style external display designed to communicate short messages with pedestrians. Xiaopeng described the effort as part of XPeng’s dual strategy to develop both shared robotaxis and “private-enjoyment” L4 vehicles that offer an autonomous experience for individual owners, not unlike Tesla’s approach.
Beyond its robotaxis, XPeng unveiled its second-generation humanoid robot, IRON, and a six-seat flying car concept. IRON made some waves online upon its introduction due to how closely it mimicked real human locomotion, forcing the company to make a follow-up showcase where IRON’s leg was cut open and its jumpsuit unzipped on-stage to prove that there was no human inside.
What do you think of XPeng’s foray into the autonomy space? Do you think on-vehicle signage would be useful in Western markets? Should there be a new standard for on-vehicle signage? Let me know in the comments below.
Baidu’s Apollo Go says its robotaxis are now completing 250,000 fully driverless rides a week.
The milestone, confirmed by a Baidu spokesperson, highlights the rapid growth of China’s largest autonomous ride-hailing service as it expands operations beyond its core markets. Apollo Go currently runs driverless fleets in Wuhan, Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, while also growing internationally in Hong Kong, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and most recently Switzerland. The company has now logged 17 million ride orders and more than 149 million miles (240 million kilometers) of autonomous driving, including 140 million fully driverless rides.
In comparison, Waymo reported similar weekly figures in April for its paid operations across Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Baidu says its data show one airbag deployment for every 10.1 million kilometers driven, with no major accidents involving injuries or fatalities.
That is not to say there have not been any serious incidents, however. In early August, a 6th generation Apollo Go robotaxi fell into a construction pit with a passenger inside. The incident prompted investigations into robotaxi safety standards in China, however no conclusions have been publicly released yet.
The company will release its next quarterly results on November 18, following its annual tech conference in Beijing scheduled for November 13.
In Other News…
Alright, that’s it from me… until next week. If you enjoy this newsletter, share it with your friend, colleague, or boss. Thank you for reading; Sophia out!