According to Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, Waymo’s self-driving robotaxis could be used for future private ownership.
The vehicle is currently the only unmanned Robotaxis with 700 vehicles, which collects fares for vehicles in the US, and is based in San Francisco.
“Personal ownership has future options,” Pichai said in his post-revenue call on Thursday, but did not provide timelines or details of the potential selling price.
According to Alphabet, Waymo’s presence is growing, completing over 250,000 fully autonomous paid rides each week. Lobotaxis is located on the roads of San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Austin, with plans to expand to Atlanta, Miami and Washington, DC.
“This is probably the first question I’ve got on a revenue call on Waymo,” Pichai joked after being asked about personal ownership. “That’s a sign of progress.”
Google does not manufacture the vehicle itself and instead relies on partnerships with major automakers such as Uber, Move, vehicle funding site, and Hyundai, Jaguar, and Chinese EV maker Zeekr.
Future unmanned tashi relies on a combination of cameras and expensive rider sensors to map roads.
Rival Tesla, which is set to launch the pilot Robotaxi program in June, will use only cameras and artificial intelligence in self-driving cars to keep costs low and keep competitors at bay.
“Teslas is probably making a huge amount of money, 20% of Waymo’s expenses,” Musk said Tuesday in a revenue call.
“Now there’s no one who can compete with Tesla,” he added.
The launch of Robotaxi in June, scheduled to take place in Austin, Texas, will likely be limited as it is a pilot program that will start.
But Musk said a wider deployment of taxis will soon be coming.
“We expect millions of Teslas to be active autonomously and completely autonomously by the second half of next year,” he said in the phone.
Tesla also aims to launch Robotaxi services in several other US states this year. Analysts warn that this could be a tall order as autonomous driving technology struggles with more complex scenarios, including rough weather, tricky intersections and unpredictable pedestrian behavior.
Mask automakers previously only dealt with partially autonomous driving, so they will immerse their toes in new legal waters with Robotaxis.
It has long criticized accidents that involve drivers with autopilot and a fully automated driving system.
Last December, General Motors dropped out of the fully self-driving version of its financial business called rival cruises.
The automaker paid a $500,000 criminal fine after admitting misleading federal agents to the 2023 crash involving one of the self-driving cars.
With post wire
