Waymo published a blog post today previewing its new sixth-generation robotaxi, an electric minivan made by Chinese automaker Zeekr.

In the post, Satish Jeyachandran, Waymo’s vice president of engineering, touts the new robotaxi as more sophisticated than previous versions and with fewer sensors to reduce costs for the Alphabet-owned company. And its high-performance computer stores everything learned from Waymo’s last five generations of autonomous vehicles, so it doesn’t need to undergo as much real-world testing as previous models before it can be released to the public.

But Waymo’s claim that its new robotaxi will be cheaper to manufacture also risks imposing expensive new tariffs on electric vehicles made in China. Earlier this year, the Biden administration announced it would quadruple tariffs on electric vehicles from China to 100 percent, from the current 25 percent, to “protect American workers and American businesses from China’s unfair trade practices.”

The tariffs are not mentioned in Jeyachandran’s update on its new robotaxi, nor is Zeekr mentioned as the vehicle’s manufacturer. (Waymo isn’t hiding where the vehicle is coming from, of course; it was mentioned prominently in previous announcements about the new robotaxi.) The new levies are expected to go into effect later this year, and Waymo could apply for an exemption if it chooses. Last week, a spokesperson told me the company is keeping a close eye on the tariff situation but had nothing further to add.

Of course, the cost savings discussed in Jeyachandran’s paper relate to the autonomous system and do not take macroeconomic conditions into account. There are a number of other innovations in the new vehicle in this area that are worth highlighting.

Waymo says the sixth-generation robotaxi will feature an optimized sensor suite of “16 cameras, 5 lidars, 6 radars, and a series of external audio receivers (EARs).” These sensors will help provide “overlapping fields of view around the vehicle, up to 500 meters, day and night, and in varying weather conditions.” That’s the equivalent of visibility of over five football fields.

Waymo’s use of multiple sensors is important for redundancy, as multiple sensors and cameras can ensure the vehicle can continue to sense and respond to its surroundings if something fails. “Redundancies are essential in an autonomous driving system to provide safe backup capabilities for guaranteed reliability and for unexpected weather,” Jeyachandran writes.

Other companies, meanwhile, are trying to cut costs by eliminating or reducing the use of certain sensors, particularly lidar. Tesla famously eliminated radar and ultrasonic sensors in favor of a camera-only system for its fully autonomous driver assistance system (which, as we know, is not a true autonomous driving system either). Motional, which also plans to launch a robotaxi service, recently outlined its plans to give radar a more prominent role to offset the high cost of lidar sensors.

Cutting costs is becoming increasingly important for robotaxi companies as they look to expand and expand into new markets. Alphabet does not separately identify Waymo’s costs in its earnings report, but its “Other Bets” division, which includes the robotaxi company, posted revenue of $365 million in the second quarter, compared to $285 million in the same period last year. However, the division’s losses widened to $1.13 billion from $813 million in the same period last year. Alphabet recently announced it would provide Waymo with an additional $5 billion to cover costs as it works toward its next phase of growth.

Jeyachandran did not provide details on where and when the new sixth-generation robotaxis will first appear. Waymo currently operates in Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and plans to begin commercial operations in Austin, Texas. The company has been manually testing the Zeekr-made minivans on public roads, with the goal of adding them to its commercial fleet soon. Hopefully, the company can clear up the uncertainty surrounding the vehicle’s import status by then.