Cybercab vs Zoox vs Waymo Ojai: the three purpose-built robotaxis, compared the day before one of them launches

Until this summer, “purpose-built robotaxi” meant a rendering. As of this week there are three real ones carrying, or about to carry, the public: Zoox’s pod started charging fares on the Las Vegas Strip on August 10 (CNBC, Aug 5), Waymo opened its Zeekr-built Ojai to every rider in three cities in August (Electrek, Aug 20), and the Cybercab gives its first public rides in Austin tomorrow. They are built on three different theories of the same problem.

The three, side by side

Sources: Cybercab specs from the June 2026 EPA filing (our spec sheet); Tesla’s self-certification statement from Lars Moravy on the April 22 call (Electrek, Apr 23); the Zoox exemption from the Federal Register, July 31, 2026 (our legal map); Ojai details and sensor cost from TechCrunch, May 28; the retained steering wheel from Autoblog.

Three theories of the cabin

Tesla built for the median ride. Two seats, because most trips carry one or two people, and a car sized to the median trip is cheaper to build, lighter (3,113 pounds, less than a Model 3) and needs a smaller battery (47.6 kWh for about 293 miles). The bet is that the fleet handles groups by dispatching a different car. Why two seats goes deeper.

Zoox built for the experience. Four seats facing each other, a carriage layout, no front or back so the car never has to turn around. It is the most radical of the three and the one regulators had to work hardest to approve: eight safety standards waived, a cap of 2,500 vehicles a year, and a rule that the cars cannot be sold. It is also the only one with paying passengers in a no-controls car today.

Waymo built for the fleet, and kept the wheel. The Ojai is a van: flat floor, low step-in, wide sliding doors, room for luggage and wheelchairs. The prototype had no steering wheel; the production version shown at CES 2026 does, which Waymo has framed as reassurance for riders and which also means the car needs no exemption and no rule change. Waymo says the sixth-generation sensor suite costs under $20,000 per vehicle, down 42% in sensor count from the fifth.

Three legal paths, and why the Cybercab’s is the interesting one

Federal safety standards assume a driver’s station. A car without one has two doors out: an exemption, which Zoox took and which is capped by statute at 2,500 vehicles per maker per year, or a claim that the car meets the standards anyway, which is Tesla’s position and which TechCrunch confirmed on June 25 has never been tested by an exemption application. Waymo sidestepped the question by keeping the wheel. NHTSA’s June proposal to rewrite the brake standard for control-free cars would settle it for everyone, and has no deadline. The practical difference: Zoox’s cap is a number; Tesla’s self-certification is a legal argument that has not been challenged. For a private owner who might one day register a Cybercab in their own name, that distinction is not academic.

Scale, honestly

Waymo reports more than 4,000 vehicles across 14 US metros and about 500,000 paid rides a week as of September 1 (the tracker). Tesla runs seven metros, six unsupervised, with a Model Y fleet that community trackers put in the low hundreds, plus 45 Cybercabs registered on August 31. Zoox charges fares in one metro. On the purpose-built car specifically, Waymo’s Ojai is riding in three cities, Zoox’s pod in one paid and two free, and the Cybercab in none until tomorrow. The scoreboard keeps the running totals.

Charging: the one place the Cybercab changes what a depot builds

All three fleets charge the same way today: the car returns to a depot and a technician plugs it in. The Cybercab is the only one announced as wireless-only, with an FCC waiver for its charging system granted in February 2026 and a hidden cabled port on 2026 validation cars that Tesla has not explained. If production cars charge on pads, a Cybercab depot looks different from a Zoox or Waymo depot: no cables, no technician per plug-in, a car that can top up anywhere a pad is buried. If the port stays, it looks the same as everyone else’s. Tomorrow’s footage may answer that before Tesla does. The charging post runs the math both ways.

What this means if you want to own one

Only the Cybercab is designed to be sold to a person. Zoox’s exemption forbids it; Waymo has never offered it. That is why this site exists and why Tesla’s launch matters more to a would-be owner than Zoox’s or Waymo’s, even though both of those are ahead today. It is also why the honest line stays the same: none of the three is for sale, and the Cybercab’s order book has no date. The launch page is where that changes, if it does.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between the Cybercab and Zoox?

Seats, sensors and legal path. The Cybercab seats two side by side, uses cameras only, and Tesla says it meets federal safety standards outright with no exemption. The Zoox seats four facing each other in a bidirectional pod, uses lidar, radar and cameras, and operates under an NHTSA exemption granted July 30, 2026 that caps it at 2,500 vehicles a year and forbids selling them. Zoox has charged for rides in Las Vegas since August 10, 2026; the Cybercab’s first public rides are expected after September 3, 2026.

Does Waymo have a purpose-built robotaxi?

Yes, the Ojai, built by Zeekr in China with Waymo’s sixth-generation sensors and software. It is a van with a flat floor and wide sliding doors, and the production version shown at CES 2026 keeps a steering wheel. It began carrying riders in 2026 and was opened to all Waymo riders in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix in August 2026.

Which purpose-built robotaxi can you buy?

None, as of September 2, 2026. Zoox’s exemption forbids selling its vehicles. Waymo has never offered a car to private owners. The Cybercab is the only one of the three designed to be sold to individuals, with a target price under $30,000, but no order book or consumer price with a date exists, and Electrek reported on July 6, 2026 that Tesla does not plan consumer sales in the foreseeable future.

Which robotaxi company has the most vehicles?

Waymo, by a wide margin: more than 4,000 vehicles across 14 US metros and about 500,000 paid rides a week as of September 1, 2026. Tesla runs seven metros, six unsupervised, with a fleet that community trackers put in the low hundreds; 45 Cybercabs were registered to its Texas fleet on August 31, 2026. Zoox charges for rides in one metro, Las Vegas.