Waymo is now running its 6th-generation Driver without safety drivers on public roads, marking the beginning of fully autonomous operations with the company’s latest and most cost-effective hardware stack.
The 6th-gen Waymo Driver cuts the sensor count dramatically: 13 cameras (down from 29), four lidars (down from five), and six radar units, a 42% reduction in total sensors compared to the 5th-gen system running on the Jaguar I-PACE fleet. Despite the reduction, Waymo claims the new suite delivers greater resolution, range, and compute power.
At the core of the camera system sits a 17-megapixel imager that Waymo says is a generation ahead of other automotive cameras in resolution, dynamic range, and low-light sensitivity.
the 6th-gen Driver is expected to cost less than $20,000 per unit (on top of the vehicle cost), more than a 50% reduction from the 5th-gen system.
The 6th-gen rollout arrives during the most aggressive expansion period in Waymo’s history. The company currently operates fully autonomous commercial service in six U.S. cities — Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta, and Miami, which launched in January. Nashville went fully driverless this week ahead of a planned commercial launch with Lyft later this year.
Waymo plans to open service in Washington, Detroit, Las Vegas, San Diego, Denver, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando in 2026. The company also confirmed its first international markets: London first, then Tokyo.
The contrast with Tesla’s autonomous ambitions remains stark. Tesla launched its robotaxi service in Austin and San Francisco but still operates most of its service with supervision, with in-car supervisors and trailing safety vehicles, a far cry from Waymo’s fully driverless operations across six cities. Tesla’s per-ride cost is lower ($1.99/km vs. Waymo’s $5.72/km), but wait times are 3-5x longer, and the company has yet to receive SAE Level 4 certification for any vehicle.
So the big question:Can Waymo significantly reduce trip cost?
Waymo’s safety data is the clearest differentiator. The company reports 90% fewer serious injury-causing crashes and 82% fewer airbag deployments than human drivers across 127 million miles, a dataset no competitor can match. Tesla’s vision-only approach has drawn scrutiny from NHTSA, while Waymo’s multi-modal sensor redundancy has earned regulatory trust in every market it operates.