Electrive reports that Chinese carmaker Zeekr manufactures these vehicles which, according to Alphabet's CEO Sundar Pichai, provide commuters with 50.000 paid rides per week. Robotaxis are not a new concept for the automotive world, as European electric car maker Rimac announced its own plans to build a robotaxi service. In the meantime, Tesla postponed the launch of its CyberCab autonomous EV from August all the way until October of this year.

Waymo started to collaborate with Zeekr on the development and manufacturing of autonomous EVs back in 2022 and now, company officials say that "less than a handful of vehicles" travel across San Francisco today, with more expected to be added at a later date.

For now, these vehicles, which are based on the Jaguar I-Pace, are not yet fully autonomous and have a safety driver guarding them, just in case, but as the system evolves, that function could be later added.

Ruth Porat, Alphabet’s outgoing chief financial officer, said that the five billion dollars which Alphabet will pour in its autonomous EV subsidiary will "enable Waymo to continue to build the world’s leading autonomous driving company."