During an earnings call last night, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai mentioned that Waymo may eventually offer autonomous vehicles for personal ownership. In response to inquiries about Waymo’s long-term business strategy, Pichai highlighted plans to expand existing partnerships, such as those with Moove in Miami and Uber in Austin (with plans for Atlanta soon), while also mentioning the potential for future options regarding personal ownership.
This isn’t the first time Waymo has considered selling self-driving cars. Back in 2018, the company partnered with Chrysler to develop self-driving Pacifica minivans, and discussions about selling them for private ownership began at that time.
Waymo isn’t alone in its aspirations for personal self-driving cars. Tesla CEO Elon Musk mentioned at last year’s “We, Robot” event that consumers could purchase a Cybercab for $30,000 by 2026. During a recent earnings call, Musk remarked that robotaxis developed by Waymo are significantly more expensive than Tesla’s Cybercab, which seats two passengers, lacks a steering wheel, and relies on camera technology rather than the complex sensor array, including lidar, found in Waymo’s standard five-seater Jaguar I-Pace electric vehicles.
Currently, Waymo has a far greater number of operational robotaxis on the road compared to Tesla, which has yet to deploy any. Waymo has recently expanded its testing to Japan, while Tesla aims to roll out its robotaxis in Austin this summer, with Musk predicting that “millions” of autonomous Tesla vehicles will be active by the end of next year.
