You Can Ride a Chinese EV in America Now — Just Not Buy One

Here is a strange footnote in North American trade politics: the Chinese-built Zeekr Ojai is now carrying paying passengers on American streets — as a robotaxi. You still cannot buy one in the United States or Canada, and tariff walls make that unlikely anytime soon. But hail a Waymo in San Francisco, Los Angeles or Phoenix and there's a growing chance an electric crossover from Geely's Zeekr brand will pull up, with nobody behind the wheel.

Waymo's next-generation fleet has fully opened to all riders in its launch cities, and the Ojai is the vehicle at the centre of it. The car is built on Geely's Sustainable Experience Architecture, the same platform family underpinning several of the most advanced Chinese EVs, engineered from the start for the sensor suites and redundancy that autonomous driving demands. For Waymo, the choice was pragmatic: purpose-built integration beats retrofitting a consumer car.

Related: First Chinese EVs Arrive in Canada Under the New Import Quota: What's Actually Here · Electric Bicycles and E-Bikes in Canada 2026: Legal Rules, Best Models, and Where to Ride

The irony is thick. North American regulators have effectively frozen Chinese consumer EVs out of the market over industrial-policy concerns, while one of America's flagship technology companies fills its fleet with them. A robotaxi, it turns out, is a service, not a car sale — and the procurement rules that keep Zeekr out of Canadian showrooms say nothing about a fleet operator buying vehicles for passenger transport.

For Canadian EV watchers, three things stand out. First, the hardware gap is real: riding in an Ojai makes clear how far Chinese EV packaging has leapt — interior space, build quality, the quiet integration of screens and sensors. Second, the path around tariffs runs through services: if Chinese-built vehicles can't be sold to consumers, fleets are the back door, and labour unions on both sides of the border are already paying attention. Third, it previews a plausible Canadian future: a province approves a robotaxi operator, and the first "Chinese EV" most Canadians ever sit in arrives not through a dealership but through an app.

None of this means Zeekr is coming to Canada. The trade posture that keeps these vehicles out shows no sign of softening, and Canadian policy has largely followed the American line on Chinese EV tariffs. But the Ojai experiment proves a point that was theoretical until now: in the autonomy era, the question "when can I buy that car?" matters less than "when can I ride in it?" For a growing number of Americans, the answer is already: today.

Looking for EV deals, insurance, or financing? Check out our partner deals and offers.

If you found this guide helpful, use our Tesla referral link for free Supercharging credits on a new Tesla purchase or lease in Canada.

Related: Tesla Cybercab Has No Onboard AC Charger — What That Means for Home Charging in Canada