{"slug": "waymo-adds-gemini-and-a-redesigned-cabin-ui-to-ojai-robotaxis", "title": "Waymo adds Gemini and a redesigned cabin UI to Ojai robotaxis", "summary": "Waymo added Google's Gemini assistant and a redesigned three-screen interface to its Ojai autonomous vehicle platform on July 29th, moving its consumer AI into the cabin while keeping it separate from the system that drives the car. The Alphabet subsidiary said early access is live, with a wider rollout planned, and Gemini in Waymo remains in beta limited to Ojai vehicles, which began carrying select public riders in Phoenix, Los Angeles, and San Francisco on June 10th.", "body_md": "Waymo added Google's Gemini assistant and a redesigned three-screen interface to its Ojai autonomous vehicle platform on July 29th, moving its consumer AI into the cabin while keeping it separate from the system that drives the car.\n\n[https://x.com/waymo/status/2082512474822086810?s=46](https://x.com/waymo/status/2082512474822086810?s=46)\n\nThe Alphabet subsidiary said in [a two-post thread on X](https://x.com/waymo/status/2082512474822086810?s=46) that early access is live, with a wider rollout planned. Gemini in Waymo remains in beta and is limited to Ojai vehicles, which began carrying select public riders in Phoenix, Los Angeles, and San Francisco on June 10th.\n\nThe launch brings together the two sides of Waymo's leadership. [Dmitri Dolgov](https://waymo.com/company/dmitri-dolgov/), co-CEO and a founder of the Google self-driving car project that began in 2009, oversees development and deployment of the Waymo Driver. Co-CEO [Tekedra Mawakana](https://waymo.com/company/tekedra-mawakana/), a former Waymo chief operating officer, focuses on commercialization and adoption. The Ojai update targets that second task: turning a technically capable autonomous vehicle into a service riders will actively choose.\n\n### Gemini stays out of the driver's seat\n\nAccording to [Waymo's product announcement](https://waymo.com/blog/2026/07/gemini-in-waymo/), riders activate Gemini by pressing an icon on an in-car screen. The assistant accepts spoken requests for temperature changes, answers questions about the journey and surrounding area, explains how Waymo works, and handles general knowledge queries.\n\nA rider can also ask Gemini to request that the vehicle pull over. Waymo says Gemini otherwise has no control over vehicle movement, routing, or the Waymo Driver and cannot access real-time driving data. That separation is central to the product design: Gemini operates as a passenger-facing assistant rather than an extension of the safety-critical autonomous driving stack.\n\nWaymo says Gemini remains inactive until a rider engages it. The beta label gives Waymo room to expand the feature after observing how riders use voice controls inside a shared transportation service, where requests can range from simple temperature changes to open-ended questions about nearby places.\n\n### Three screens respond to occupied seats\n\nWaymo also rebuilt Ojai's interface around the vehicle's three LED screens. Rather than display identical information across the cabin, the system changes each screen based on where passengers are sitting. A rider in the right rear seat, for example, can receive full controls while the other displays show trip status or media.\n\nThe interface consolidates music, cabin settings, and journey information and adds a feature called Calm Mode, which dims the display and reduces the amount of trip information on screen. Waymo describes the redesign as its first major in-car interface update in years.\n\nOjai was designed specifically for autonomous ride-hailing, with no need to preserve the layout of a conventional driver-controlled vehicle. The cabin has elevator-style doors, a flat floor, embedded braille, screen-reader support, seat-integrated entry handles, and three passenger displays. Ojai is also the first vehicle to use Waymo's sixth-generation Driver, according to [Waymo's May 28th introduction](https://waymo.com/blog/2026/05/welcoming-riders-in-the-ojai/).\n\n[Waymo's help center](https://support.google.com/waymo/answer/17144766) said the first public Ojai rides began on June 10th. Waymo initially offered select riders free trips while collecting feedback. In its July 29th X thread, Waymo said Ojai vehicles may also appear in other cities with human specialists as Waymo prepares them for fully autonomous service.\n\n### The cabin becomes a competitive surface\n\nWaymo is deploying the update at substantial operating scale. Alphabet said in its [first-quarter 2026 results](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1652044/000165204426000043/googexhibit991q12026.htm) that Waymo had surpassed 500,000 fully autonomous rides per week. Alphabet does not report Waymo's revenue separately: Other Bets, the segment containing Waymo and several other operations, generated $411 million in first-quarter revenue and recorded a $2.1 billion operating loss.\n\nWaymo also raised [$16 billion in February](https://waymo.com/blog/2026/02/waymo-raises-usd16-billion-investment-round/) at a $126 billion post-money valuation. Alphabet remained the majority investor, while Dragoneer Investment Group, DST Global, and Sequoia Capital led the financing. The round was intended to support fleet and geographic expansion, making customer retention and vehicle utilization increasingly important alongside autonomous driving performance.\n\nGemini gives Waymo another product layer to refine during the time riders spend inside its vehicles. Cabin controls, media, local information, and AI assistance can shape whether an autonomous trip feels like a generic taxi replacement or a service tied to Alphabet's software. Waymo has already built the driving system and the physical cabin. The July 29th release shows the next phase of the product taking shape on the screens between pickup and drop-off.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/waymo-adds-gemini-and-a-redesigned-cabin-ui-to-ojai-robotaxis", "canonical_source": "https://runtimewire.com/article/waymo-adds-gemini-redesigned-ui-ojai-robotaxis", "published_at": "2026-07-29 18:21:06+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-29 18:30:16.376383+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["autonomous-vehicles", "generative-ai", "ai-products"], "entities": ["Waymo", "Alphabet", "Gemini", "Ojai", "Dmitri Dolgov", "Tekedra Mawakana", "Phoenix", "Los Angeles"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/waymo-adds-gemini-and-a-redesigned-cabin-ui-to-ojai-robotaxis", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/waymo-adds-gemini-and-a-redesigned-cabin-ui-to-ojai-robotaxis.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/waymo-adds-gemini-and-a-redesigned-cabin-ui-to-ojai-robotaxis.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/waymo-adds-gemini-and-a-redesigned-cabin-ui-to-ojai-robotaxis.jsonld"}}