"Waymo 's acceleration over the past 18 months is undeniable. The Alphabet-owned self-driving company now operates commercial robotaxi services in six markets, including the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta, and Miami. It has plans to grow its fleet of driverless taxicabs this year to more than a dozen new cities internationally, including London and Tokyo. And now it has $16 billion to fuel that expansion. Is it enough?"
"This doesn't guarantee success, though, especially if the gauge is set to profitability. Waymo still must solve several problems, including cost and increasing attention from regulators (the company's chief safety officer just testified in a Senate Commerce hearing). If Waymo wants to simply be the licensor of its AV tech, it will have to move away from being the operator, which means giving up some control. That's hard with a nascent technology under scrutiny."
Waymo expanded commercial robotaxi services to six U.S. markets and plans international growth including London and Tokyo. The company operates in the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta, and Miami and provides approximately 400,000 rides every week. Ridership and autonomous miles driven have surged, with annual volume more than tripling to 15 million rides in 2025. Alphabet committed $16 billion to fund expansion. Major hurdles include achieving profitability, reducing costs, increased regulatory scrutiny including Senate testimony, deciding between operating vehicles or licensing AV technology, and lacking in-house vehicle manufacturing.
Read at TechCrunch
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