Waymo reports 250,000 paid robotaxi rides per week in U.S.

Waymo reports 250,000 paid robotaxi rides per week in U.S.


A Waymo rider-only robotaxi is seen during a test ride in San Francisco, California, U.S., December 9, 2022. 

Paresh Dave | Reuters

Alphabet reported Thursday that Waymo, its autonomous vehicle unit, is now delivering more than 250,000 paid robotaxi rides per week in the U.S.

CEO Sundar Pichai said Waymo has options in terms of “business models across geographies,” and the robotaxi company is building partnerships with ride-hailing app Uber, automakers and operations and maintenance businesses that tend to its vehicle fleets.

“We can’t possibly do it all ourselves,” said Pichai on a call with analysts for Alphabet’s first-quarter earnings. 

Pichai noted that Waymo has not entirely defined its long-term business model, and there is “future optionality around personal ownership” of vehicles equipped with Waymo’s self-driving technology. The company is also exploring the ways it can scale up its operations, he said.

The 250,000 paid rides per week are up from 200,000 in February, before Waymo opened in Austin and expanded in the San Francisco Bay Area in March. 

Waymo, which is part of Alphabet’s Other Bets segment, is already running its commercial, driverless ride-hailing services in the San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin regions.

Earlier this month, Waymo and its partner Uber, began allowing interested riders to sign up to try the robotaxi service in Atlanta when it opens this summer. 

The early pioneer in self-driving technology, Waymo has managed to beat Elon Musk-led Tesla and a myriad of now-defunct autonomous vehicle startups to the U.S. market.

Tesla is promising that it will be able to turn its Model Y SUVs into robotaxis by the end of June for a driverless ride-hailing service it plans to launch in Austin.

After about a decade of promises and missed deadlines, Tesla still does not offer a vehicle that’s safe to use without a human at the wheel ready to steer or brake at all times.

Musk criticized Waymo’s approach to driverless tech on his company’s first-quarter earnings call on Tuesday. Musk said Waymo autonomous vehicles are “very expensive” and made in only “low volume.” Tesla’s partially automated driving systems rely mostly on cameras to navigate, while Waymo’s driverless systems rely on lidar technology, other sensors and cameras.

Would-be competitors to Waymo also include Amazon-owned Zoox, Mobileye, May Mobility and international autonomous vehicle companies such as WeRide and Baidu’s Apollo Go.

WATCH: Tesla vs. Waymo: Musk casts doubt on Google’s robotaxi strategy

Tesla vs. Waymo: Musk casts doubt on Google's robotaxi strategy



Source

‘Bitcoin Family’ hides crypto codes etched onto metal cards on four continents after recent kidnappings
Technology

‘Bitcoin Family’ hides crypto codes etched onto metal cards on four continents after recent kidnappings

The Taihuttus on a ski trip to Sierra Nevada in southern Spain. They sold everything they owned in 2017 to bet on bitcoin — and now travel full-time as a family of five. Didi Taihuttu A wave of high-profile kidnappings targeting cryptocurrency executives has rattled the industry — and prompted a quiet security revolution among […]

Read More
Tesla Optimus robotics vice president Milan Kovac is leaving the company
Technology

Tesla Optimus robotics vice president Milan Kovac is leaving the company

Tesla displays Optimus next to two of its vehicles at the World Robot Conference in Beijing on Aug. 22, 2024. CNBC | Evelyn Tesla’s vice president of Optimus robotics, Milan Kovac, said on Friday that he’s leaving the company. In a post on X, Kovac thanked Tesla CEO Elon Musk and reminisced about his tenure, […]

Read More
Tesla already had big problems. Then Musk went to battle with Trump
Technology

Tesla already had big problems. Then Musk went to battle with Trump

President Donald Trump holds a news conference with Elon Musk to mark the end of the Tesla CEO’s tenure as a special government employee overseeing the U.S. DOGE Service on Friday May 30, 2025 in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. Tom Brenner | The Washington Post | Getty Images Tesla has […]

Read More