Waymo

The robotaxi race in the U.S. is heating up real fast with several players competing for a slice of the ride-hailing market. But there’s one company that continues to pull away from the pack: Waymo. The Alphabet-owned firm said Thursday it has entered another U.S. city, with many more launches lined up this year.

Welcome back to Critical Materials, your daily round-up of news and events shaping up the world of electric cars and technology. Also on the menu today: EVs sales slightly dipped in California last year, but hybrids continued to surge. And a Chinese EV maker is eyeing the Canadian car market under the new tariff regime.

Let’s begin.

25%: Waymo’s Biggest Year Of Growth Yet Starts In Miami

Waymo’s expansion across the U.S. is showing no signs of slowing. The Alphabet-owned company launched its driverless ride-hailing service in Miami, Florida, on Thursday, marking expansion into its sixth U.S. city, with several more already in the pipeline.

Not everyone in Miami can hail a Waymo just yet. The company said roughly 10,000 residents have already signed up to ride in its lidar-equipped Jaguar I-Pace electric crossovers. New riders will be invited in waves as it scales up the local fleet with more cars.

The company is quietly revolutionizing how people in cities get around. By mid-December, Waymo logged over 20 million paid driverless rides and was averaging nearly half a million weekly trips across San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Austin and Atlanta.

Miami will push those numbers even higher in what will likely be Waymo’s most aggressive growth year yet, if everything goes as planned. The robotaxis will initially serve a roughly 60-square-mile area, covering neighborhoods such as the Design District and Coral Gables, with plans to eventually include Miami International Airport.

And the expansion doesn’t stop there. Waymo plans to add over 20 cities to its network this year, including its first entry into colder, snowy cities like Detroit and Washington, D.C.

Waymo’s epic push is happening as Tesla starts to get its own driverless efforts off the ground. It started offering rides with no human safety monitor via its Robotaxi service in Austin on Thursday.

50%: Hybrids Gain In California As EV Sales Cool

Photo by: Toyota

Earlier this week, Senior Editor Tim Levin recapped California’s latest EV milestone of more than 2.5 million units sold cumulatively over the years. But zoom in on 2025 and the picture looks a bit different from the years that came before.

A new report from the California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA) shows that 378,216 zero-emissions vehicles (ZEVs) were registered in California last year, down about 2% from the year before.

But hybrids picked up the slack in a big way. Registrations of hybrids (excluding plug-in hybrids) jumped 36% to more than 350,000 units, giving them nearly a 20% share of the state’s overall car market.

EVs, hybrids and plug-in hybrids together accounted for 44% of all new car sales in California last year. Meanwhile, light-duty gasoline vehicles continued their slow retreat, with their market share slipping from 59.7% to 56.2%.

As ever, there were clear winners and losers. Tesla’s registrations fell 11.4% to 179,656 units, while Toyota moved in the opposite direction, posting an 11.6% increase to more than 322,000 registrations.

At the model level, familiar names dominated their own segments. The Honda Civic, Toyota Camry, Tesla Model 3, Toyota RAV4 and Ford F-Series trucks each emerged as bestsellers in their respective categories.

75%: Chery Eyes Canada Entry Thanks To Lower Tariffs

Chery QQ3 EV

Photo by: Chery

Chinese automakers are eyeing a push into North America after Canada lowered its tariffs on Chinese-made EVs from a prohibitively expensive 100% to just 6.1% last week.

Chery, China’s third-largest automaker by sales last year, is now jockeying to become the first from China to enter the Canadian market under the new tariff landscape, The Globe and Mail reported Thursday citing sources familiar with the matter.

Here’s more from that story:

The recruiters all say, in messages seen by The Globe, that they are looking to hire for several roles that would support Chery’s expansion into Canada. In some cases, the recruiters specifically mention Chery’s subbrands Omoda and Jaecoo.

The messages suggest Chery is hiring for all the key roles needed to build a Canadian sales operation from scratch. The messages also said Chery will open an office in the Toronto area and that the move was part of the company’s “long-term decision to invest and grow its business in Canada.”

Other than Chery, BYD is also reportedly in discussions with Canadian officials about a potential market entry. It’s increasingly looking like it will be only a matter of time before high-tech and competitively prices Chinese EVs begin rolling onto Canadian roads.

While that prospect is good news for EV buyers in the country, it remains to be seen how these EVs will actually perform in the marketplace. Chinese automakers may be able to lure new buyers on price and technology. But keeping them loyal would be a whole different challenge.

100%: Are You Warming Up To Robotaxis?

Waymo Driverless Minivan

Photo by: Waymo

When Waymo shows up in your city—if it hasn’t already—would you rely on it for regular rides?

Contact the author: suvrat.kothari@insideevs.com

Related Stories