Ex-Waymo CEO shoots back after Elon Musk's Tesla earnings diss
Tesla CEO Elon Musk took multiple digs at one of his biggest competitors in the robotaxi race, Waymo, during Tuesday's earnings call.
Ex-Waymo CEO John Krafcik shot back: Check the scoreboard.
" Tesla has never competed with Waymo — they've never sold a robotaxi ride to a public rider, but they've sold a lot of cars," Krafcik said in an email to Business Insider. "And although Tesla hopes to compete with Waymo someday, they've failed utterly and completely at this for each of the 10 years they've been talking about it."
Krafick led Waymo between 2015 and 2021, overseeing the self-driving division's spin-out from Alphabet in 2016. He was replaced with two co-CEOs, Tekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov. Krafick currently serves on Rivian's board.
Tesla made another big push for its robotaxi bet during its latest earnings presentation.
Musk said the initial "pilot" rollout in Austin this June will consist of 10 to 20 robotaxis, using Tesla Model Ys. The ramp-up afterwards will be quick, he said, predicting "millions" of fully-autonomous Teslas on the road by the second half of next year and a market-share domination of "99% or something ridiculous."
The CEO sounded confident on the call about Tesla's approach to autonomy, which relies on cameras and a "generalized" AI that the company said will be able to adapt to various driving environments without the need of pre-mapping a particular region.
That's different from Waymo.
Waymo maps out a city like San Francisco or Tokyo with its cars before deploying a robotaxi service to the public, and it uses a generous set of lidar sensors and cameras.
Musk has said before that this approach is arduous and expensive, and he reiterated his point during the earnings call.
"The issue with Waymo's cars is it costs way more money," Musk said, making a play on Waymo's name. "Rim shot."
He later added: "Waymo decided that an expensive sensor suite was the way to go, even though Google's very good at AI. It's ironic."
Musk estimated that Tesla could make robotaxis that cost a "quarter to 20%" less than the cost of Waymo's Jaguar I-PACE vehicles — and it'll do so at higher volumes through its unique manufacturing methods.
Krafcik, the ex-Waymo CEO, thinks the cost talk is a moot point when considering safety.
In the long run, the cost of sensors has a "trivial cost-per-mile impact over the useful life of a robotaxi," he told BI," while also providing massive quantifiable safety benefits."
'Undelivered promises'
Tesla's robotaxi vision hinges on a key piece of technology it calls Full Self-Driving, which is powered by the company's own hardware stack.
To date, the company has not rolled out a public version of the software that operates without the supervision of a human driver.
On Wednesday, the company shared a post on X, previewing the robotaxi app and service in Silicon Valley. Tesla said in the post that the company has completed over 1,500 trips and 15,000 miles of driving.
The video showed a person hailing a Model Y. One scene showed a safety operator sitting behind the wheel.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Tom Narayan said in his latest forecast that Tesla could generate $80 billion in robotaxi revenue a year in the US by 2040.
Krafcik is skeptical.
"Well, after 10 years of undelivered promises, it seems pretty rational for those watching to be data- and evidence-driven," he said. "There's still a lot of promises, still no Tesla liability for FSD driving performance, and still no universal robotaxi service."
The former CEO acknowledged that Tesla's FSD has improved, but he argued that that's different from showing that the company has a safe, "truly autonomous" robotaxi service.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Buzz Feed
43 minutes ago
- Buzz Feed
17 Rich Kid Tantrums That Are Incredibly Out Of Touch
Recently, u/Katybee18 asked r/AskReddit, "People who went to private school, what was the best rich kid meltdown you've ever witnessed?" So we thought we'd share some of the responses. "This one girl would always show off the new things her parents got her, then pick and choose who to share it with like it was a privilege. This one time they got her these heart shaped pastel-coloured chocolates. She waited until someone noticed them so she could tell the table about it, and then she took a bite. She immediately went to the bathroom and came back crying. It was soap." "This was back in the '90s, so I don't recall exact car models." "A kid threw a party with lots of drugs and lots of alcohol." "Not really a meltdown but a 'what the fuck'." "In junior high, we all had to wear uniforms. We hated them but everyone had to do it. Unless you were Greg who would wear a fake military uniform to school." "Dude got gifted a new sports car from his dad. The dealership didn't have the colour he wanted so he had to wait two weeks. He threw a temper tantrum, screaming, cursing, and throwing things. Dead serious." "I grew up in the late '90s, around the time the original Humvees became super popular." "She only got a Toyota, and not a Tesla, for her quinceañera." "A senior once got wasted and somehow ended up driving his car through a wall into the dining hall. Parents stormed into the school the next day with a lawyer and tried spinning the story that the 'school's parking lot had too many turns on the roads' which is how his car ended up in the lunch line. Somehow this worked; the entire parking lot was rebuilt, and the family 'donated' a new dining hall that now has their name on it." "Went to culinary school with a rich girl." "When I was in high school, someone arranged for THOUSANDS of rose petals to be laid out on the school lawn spelling this girl's name to ask her out to prom. This was while a plane flew overhead, towing one of those banners asking the question. He got rejected and freaked the fuck out. Parents were beefing with one another, people were telling the girl to just go with him since his family spent so much money. He was clowned on relentlessly. It was pretty hilarious." "My daughter was in first grade and this affluent child had a complete meltdown because they were going to take a motorcoach bus to a museum three hours away. She screamed over and over that 'only trashy poor people ride buses'. Her parents, of course, drove her." "A rich kid I grew up with backed his Porsche onto a Honda Civic, and just walked away from it. He was just being a POS. Not even kidding, a week later he had a new Porsche. His dad has a garage full of them." "I went to a private boarding school in Massachusetts. There were lots of rich kids. I was there on Financial Aid. For some reason the rich kids were really hung up on the idea that they were poor. A group of boys was discussing whose family was the least rich. The conversation went like this: 'Well my family only really owns two houses, our ski lodge is technically a condo,' 'Well we have the apartment in Manhattan, the loft in Brooklyn and then a beach house in Montauk... So that's like only one house'". "On her 16th birthday, her parents bought her a brand new car and brought it to the school parking lot to surprise her with it after school. Now the bell rings and everybody makes our way towards the parking lot so this is in front of the whole school." "My wife taught at one for a long time, and had a lot of stories. My favourite was the girl who wouldn't be seen with the same purse two periods in a row and had a meltdown when she couldn't get to her locker between periods to switch out." "Two of the kids at my school got into a fight over a parking place and one somehow drove his super lifted truck OVER THE HOOD of the other kids sports car. Fortunately, both of their parents bought them new vehicles so nobody learned any lessons." H/T to u/Katybee18 and r/AskReddit for having the discussion! Any of your own stories to add? Let us know in the comments below!
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
What To Expect in Markets This Week: Fed Rate Decision, Juneteenth Holiday, US Retail Sales, Tesla Robotaxi Rollout
There's a lot on the domestic calendar this week. But investors and the world are watching global affairs, too. As the weekend began—with Iran and Israel striking each other—was an urgent matter, with people dying in both countries and Iran reportedly pulling out of planned talks with the U.S. The news raised questions not only about the path forward for commodities and other markets but stability in the region and beyond. Meanwhile, several market-driving events are due in the coming days. The Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, consumer spending data, and possible news on President Donald Trump's tariffs headline the week. Thursday's Juneteenth holiday will mean a break from trading. The Fed will hand down another decision on interest rates this week, with a decision scheduled for Wednesday. The coming weekend could see Tesla providing a significant update on the direction of the electric vehicle maker. Did consumers in May continue to prop up the economy? Tuesday's U.S. retail sales will make it clear whether strong spending levels continued, while housing construction data will provide insight into whether builders are catching up with lagging inventory levels. Investors will continue to watch for trade developments as negotiations continue between U.S. officials and key trading partners. It's a light week for corporate earnings, highlighted by expected reports from homebuilder Lennar, accounting firm Accenture, grocery chain Kroger, and online used car seller CarMax. Read to the bottom for our calendar of key events—and one more thing. Fed officials have said they are keeping rates steady amid a strong labor market as they monitor inflation data for signs that Trump's tariffs are driving up prices. But the pressure is on the Federal Reserve after May inflation data came in lower than economists expected. Despite comments from President Donald Trump urging the Fed to make a one-point cut, investors don't expect the central bank to take action when its two-day meeting concludes on Wednesday. The CME FedWatch Tool, which measures fed funds futures to determine the path of interest rates, indicates that traders overwhelmingly believe that Fed will keep rates at their current levels in June. They also don't expect the central bank to move rates at its late July meeting. After the meeting concludes on Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell will provide more insight into the central bank's view on the economy and interest rates when he takes media questions. On Tuesday, retail sales figures from May will provide another barometer of the economy's health Consumer spending makes up about two-thirds of the U.S. economy. Meanwhile, housing data will also be scrutinized as affordability issues continue to depress home sales. The latest homebuilder confidence reading on Tuesday will show if construction industry officials see improvements coming in the market, while Wednesday's housing starts data will indicate whether construction levels are rising amid a need for more housing inventory. After months of waiting, investors could soon get a key update from electric vehicle maker Tesla (TSLA). CEO Elon Musk said in a recent social media post that the company could roll out its robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, as early as Sunday, June 22. "We are being super paranoid about safety, so the date could shift," Musk wrote. The introduction of the company's robotaxi service could be a key moment for Tesla, which is banking on artificial intelligence (AI) and self-driving vehicles to become the transportation technologies of the future. Tesla is well-positioned to lead the market in the emerging technology, analysts have concluded, with Goldman Sachs writing that the EV maker could have a leg up on the competition through its ability to train self-driving through its AI development and to quickly scale production levels of the technology. Despite a light corporate earnings schedule this week, investors will still get some expected updates from noteworthy companies. Lennar's (LEN) expected report after the bell on Monday follows the homebuilder's warning of weakness in the housing market in the prior quarter. The scheduled Friday reports from accounting firm Accenture (ACN) and online car seller CarMax (KMX) will be posted in the shadow of both companies' lower-than-expected profits in the prior quarter. Quick Links: Recap Last Week's Trading | Latest Markets News Monday, June 16 Data to Watch: Empire State manufacturing survey (June) Key Earnings: Lennar Tuesday, June 17 U.S. retail sales (May) Homebuilder confidence (June) Key Earnings: Jabil (JBL), John Wiley & Sons (WLY), and La-Z-Boy (LZB) More Data to Watch: Import/export price index (May), Industrial production/capacity utilization (May), Business inventories (April) Wednesday, June 18 Housing starts (May) FOMC interest-rate decision Federal Reserve Chair Powell press conference Key Earnings: GMS (GMS) More Data to Watch: Initial jobless claims (Week ending June 14) Thursday, June 19 Financial markets closed for the Juneteenth holiday Key Earnings: Smith & Wesson Brands (SWBI) Friday, June 20 Leading economic indicators (May) Key Earnings: Accenture, Kroger (KR), Darden Restaurants (DRI), and CarMax More Data to Watch: Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey (June) Are you a recent graduate? Do you know one? Either way, congratulations! Investopedia's Sabrina Karl has advice for what new grads can do to set themselves up for the future. Read more about the four smart things grads can do with their gift money. Read the original article on Investopedia Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Baird Lowers Tesla (TSLA) to Hold, Citing Valuation and Robotaxi Risk
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is one of the 10 best tech stocks to buy according to billionaires right now. On June 9, Ben Kallo of Robert W. Baird downgraded Tesla from Buy to Hold mainly on valuation concerns, while keeping his price target unchanged at $320. In his view, much of the recent upside in the stock, up over 20% since Q1 earnings, has already factored in the excitement around Tesla's planned robotaxi service and the prospect of a lower-cost electric vehicle. Hadrian / Kallo cited two key areas of concern behind the downgrade. First, he flagged elevated market expectations ahead of Tesla's upcoming robotaxi event, which he believes could be difficult to meet. Second, he raised questions around 'key-man' risk, pointing to ongoing uncertainty tied to CEO Elon Musk's central role in the company's strategic direction. While Musk has resigned from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), it may still take time for him to recoup investor confidence. While Kallo still considers Tesla a core long-term holding, he expressed skepticism about the near-term ramp-up of the robotaxi program, describing current projections as potentially too ambitious. He also noted that Elon Musk's political affiliations, particularly his perceived alignment with former President Trump, could introduce additional headline and regulatory risk moving forward. Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is an EV manufacturer and clean energy company known for its innovative approach to sustainable transportation and energy solutions. It designs, manufactures, and sells electric vehicles, battery energy storage systems, solar products, and related services. It currently manufactures five different consumer vehicles: the Model 3, Y, S, X, and the Cybertruck. While we acknowledge the potential of TSLA as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: The Best and Worst Dow Stocks for the Next 12 Months and 10 Unstoppable Stocks That Could Double Your Money. Disclosure: None. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
