California's Public Utilities Commission has paused Waymo's fare authorization for the Ojai fleet, its first purpose built driverless cab, while it investigates two safety concerns, leaving rides free through September 25.
California riders who catch one of Waymo's new pale-blue Ojai robotaxis are getting their trips for free through at least late September. The reason isn't a Waymo promotion. It's a state regulator using the price of a ride as leverage to force the company to answer two safety questions it has so far deferred.
California runs an unusually strict robotaxi gate: the DMV certifies vehicles to operate on public roads, and a separate agency, the California Public Utilities Commission, decides whether those vehicles can charge paying passengers. The split is set out in CPUC decisions D.20-11-046 and D.21-05-017, and it means a robotaxi company can be legally driving in your neighborhood while still lacking permission to take your money.
In May, the CPUC's Consumer Protection and Enforcement Division suspended Waymo's fare application for the Ojai fleet, Advice Letter 0004, to demand more information on two issues. The first is how Waymo handles emergency outages. In December 2025, a San Francisco power disruption stranded more than 60 Waymo vehicles in traffic, becoming the most concrete illustration so far of what a robotaxi mass-failure looks like at street level, according to Wired's reporting. The second is what Waymo does to keep unaccompanied minors out of its cabs.
That second concern comes from a formal complaint filed by SEIU 1021 and the California Gig Workers Union, the labor coalition that asked the CPUC to suspend Waymo's permit and open an investigation into whether the company knowingly violates its own rules by carrying solo minors. The complaint is a union filing, not an adjudication, but it is the formal trigger for the unaccompanied-minor line of inquiry. A supplemental filing Waymo submitted in May addressed some of the staff questions but not enough to clear the pause.
Until staff resolves both inquiries, the Ojai fleet must run gratis. CPUC spokesperson Terrie Prosper told reporters the agency's current extension runs through September 25, 2026, with the possibility that the free window could stretch further. The pause also covers a much bigger prize: a statewide expansion request Waymo filed in January that would have extended service from Sea Ranch and Sacramento south through the East Bay and Silicon Valley to Los Angeles and San Diego. None of that is moving until AL 0004 is disposed.
For now, the result is a two-tier Waymo experience in California. Ojai vehicles, Waymo's first purpose-built driverless cab, built by Chinese automaker Geely-Zeekr, cannot collect fares. The older Jaguar I-PACE fleet, which still makes up the majority of California service, continues to charge. A rider's fare depends on which car pulls up, not on the trip length.
The Ojai also sits at the center of a separate federal question. An incoming ban on Chinese-connected automotive technology is set to take effect, and Waymo argues the Ojai dodges it because Geely-Zeekr only supplies the vehicle shell while Waymo integrates the connected software stack in the United States. As first reported by Wired, that distinction rests on Waymo's own framing, and the integrated-in-US claim has not been independently corroborated in the materials now public. Federal treatment of the Ojai may depend on whether regulators accept that frame.
The next milestone is September 25, when CPUC staff revisits the suspended fare authorization. Waymo could submit enough new information to lift the pause, the commission could extend the freeze, or staff could dispose of AL 0004 with conditions that reshape the Ojai rollout. Until then, California riders who catch a pale-blue cab are riding for free, courtesy of a regulator that hasn't decided what fare is allowed.