n expansion of service territories into several new regions, including San Diego and Sacramento, while introducing the Ojai vehicle platform to the active fleet. Within the text, Waymo outlines its safety protocols, mission for sustainable mobility, and the technological capabilities of its driverless sensor suites. The sources also provide specific instructions for public protest or response to the proposal, ensuring a transparent review process. Extensive attachments offer geographic maps of the approved operational domains and official correspondence from the DMV regarding deployment amendments. Ultimately, these materials document the operational growth and safety standards of autonomous ride-hailing services in California.

Waymo Ojai and the Chinese Supply Chain

Elon Musk Podcast

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** Elon Musk Podcast

## Transcript

The Commerzbank is full of stories and even if we don't know any of our customers' dreams, we know how we can make their ideas, ideas and dreams together. When we talk about their stories? Built from 155 years of experience and the success of our customers. Commerzbank, the bank on your side. Waymo is retiring those retrofitted luxury cars.

And rolling out a new purpose-built robo-taxi called the Ojai. They're manufacturing it in partnership with Zeker, a subsidiary of the Chinese automaker Geely. And with this new vehicle, they're cutting the autonomous sensor count by 42% while dropping production costs by $75,000 a unit. Right, which means you essentially have an American tech giant relying on a Chinese supply chain to conquer the U.S. autonomous vehicle market.

And this is right in the middle of incredibly strict import tariffs. So we're really looking at autonomous ride-hailing moving from, you know, a retrofitted science project to a scalable transit business. The question we keep circling here is whether a cheaper purpose-built robo-taxi can actually overcome the compounding challenges stacking up against it. And we're talking unpredictable weather, cybersecurity concerns and intense geopolitical scrutiny.

Can this specific hardware and software combination finally make autonomous transport just an everyday reality for people? You really have to start by just looking at the physical vehicle itself. I mean, they call it the Ojai. The model code is CM1E. Right. And it's built on Geely's SCA skateboard platform. Which, if you haven't seen one of these, you have to picture a boxy, capsule-style four-door minivan. Basically a pod. Yeah, a pod.

The actual physical footprint mirrors the Jaguar I-Pace they're using right now. Yeah. But they maximize the interior space with a 64% access length ratio. Because they push the wheels out to the absolute corners of the chassis. That's what that skateboard platform allows them to do, right? You pack the batteries flat into the floor. You completely remove the traditional engine bay. And you end up with this cavernous interior. And it's still on a vehicle that's small enough to navigate tight city streets.

I mean, you think about a standard sedan. Maybe a third of the physical length of the car is just a metal box holding an engine, transmission, a radiator. None of that is necessary here. No, it's all gone. And the entry experience changes entirely because of that. There is no B-pillar. You get these dual sliding elevator-like doors that just open outward from the center. Which is wild. The floor is completely flat. And the step in height is exceptionally low. Taking out the B-pillar is a really serious engineering problem.

That's usually the structural column right behind the front doors, right? It keeps the roof from collapsing in a rollover, provides side impact protection. Yeah, it's a critical safety component. So removing it mea...

Waymo Ojai and the Chinese Supply Chain

Transcript

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Waymo Ojai and the Chinese Supply Chain

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.