Waymo's massive importation of Chinese-built Zeekr vehicles demonstrates the company's commitment to scaling its robotaxi fleet despite high tariffs, positioning Alphabet for significant revenue growth.
Too little corroboration in the last 3 days to call a trend (3 articles). Watching for it to gain traction.
Mainstream financial press is carrying this — attention has broadened beyond specialist outlets.
"Waymo announced Friday that it is expanding its autonomous ride-hailing business across Northern and Southern California, including into two new major markets. On Friday, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved the company's application to expand its autonomous ride-hailing service."
"Since 2024, Zeekr has shipped more than 3,200 units of its CM1e through the Port of Los Angeles, including over 2,600 so far this year. Waymo currently books more than 500,000 paid rides a week, and is targeting 1 million per week by year-end. If it hits that level, annual revenue in 2027 would top $1 billion based on an estimated average fare of $20 per ride."
"My guess is they're getting it super cheap from Zeekr–at a big discount. Also, Geely could be eating some of that tariff since Waymo's kind of stuck. Their AV stack was designed specifically for Ojai prior to all these tariffs and connected vehicle restrictions."