Waymo dropped the waitlist for its Ojai robotaxi on Wednesday, making the Chinese-built minivan commercially available to any rider in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco — a milestone that lands as a bipartisan Senate bill, cleared through committee without a dissenting vote last month, advances toward a vote that could make the Ojai's chassis illegal to import under the Connected Vehicle Security Act. What riders are actually stepping into is a vehicle whose body, battery, and electric drivetrain were built in Ningbo, China, by Zeekr — a brand owned by Geely Holding Group, the same Chinese automotive conglomerate whose Polestar subsidiary was banned from U.S. sales in June under the same national security framework now being debated in Congress. Waymo argues that its arrangement is fundamentally different from Polestar's. The government has not said so publicly. What the Ojai Is, and What Riders Are Hailing The Ojai (pronounced "oh-hi") is a boxy, van-shaped electric vehicle that looks nothing like the Jaguar I-Pace SUVs that have been Waymo's flagship in San Francisco and Los Angeles. It is Waymo's first purpose-built robotaxi — not a retrofitted consumer vehicle but a vehicle designed from the ground up for commercial driverless ride-hailing. The interior trades automotive styling for practical utility: a flat floor, low step-in height, dual B-pillarless sliding doors that open like elevator doors, and three LED touchscreens where riders can control temperature, audio, and ride preferences. Waymo describes the cabin as a "modern living room on wheels," and at 1,755 mm (69.1 inches) tall, it is substantially roomier than the I-Pace. The technology inside is Waymo's: a sixth-generation autonomous driving system with 13 cameras, four LiDAR units, six radar sensors, and external audio receivers (EARs). That represents a 42% reduction in sensor count compared to the fifth-generation hardware that runs Waymo's