You might have noticed recently that Waymo has some new vehicles on the road that look quite a bit different from its seemingly ubiquitous Jaguar i-Paces — and pretty much everything else driving around.
The Mountain View-based robotaxi company is in the process of incorporating the cars, manufactured for it by Chinese automobile maker Zeekr, into its fleet. Dubbed Ojai (pronounced “OH-hi,” like the city in Southern California), the new vehicles look like small minivans or SUVs. They are distinguished by their horizontally sliding front and rear doors, their smaller sensor arrays and their cornflower-blue paint.
Waymo began testing the vehicles with drivers in them last year, according to Chris Bonelli, a company spokesman. Last month, it began giving driverless autonomous rides in the car in The City — as well as in Los Angeles and Phoenix — but only to employees, he said…