Waymo reveals the road beyond robotaxis
Waymo put out a reminder that it doesn't just want to be another ride-share competitor.
The Alphabet-owned company announced Thursday that it's in early-stage talks with Toyota Motor Corporation to explore bringing its autonomous driving technology to personally-owned vehicles. The statement said that Toyota could also provide its vehicles to add to Waymo's robotaxi fleet.
"In parallel, the companies will explore how to leverage Waymo's autonomous technology and Toyota's vehicle expertise to enhance next-generation personally owned vehicles (POVs)," Waymo and Toyota said in a joint press release. "The scope of the collaboration will continue to evolve through ongoing discussions."
Waymo said in the announcement that it's building a "generalizable" autonomous driver that can be applied to different "vehicle platforms and businesses over time."
Developing a generalized autonomous driver is similar to the approach of companies like Tesla or Wayve. It refers to an autonomous driving system that can work in different environments and vehicles regardless of whether the system has been familiarized with a particular region.
"For example, when we first start driving in a new city, the same software that is active in other markets will allow the vehicle to drive well in a new environment," Chris Bonelli, a Waymo spokesperson, told Business Insider.
Currently, Waymo maps out a city or region before it deploys a robotaxi service to the public in that area. That's why Waymo's autonomous driver isn't often referred to as generalized AI.
Waymo has been heavily focused on expanding its robotaxi operations. The company said it now offers more than 250,000 rides weekly throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin. It's also planning to expand its service to Atlanta, Miami, and Washington, DC.
Part of its scaling strategy includes partnering with rideshare platforms like Uber. In Phoenix, customers can order a Waymo on the Uber app. In Austin, Uber also oversees the maintenance of the Waymo robotaxi fleet.
Tesla has also said it will launch a pilot robotaxi service in Austin in June.
CEO Elon Musk said in the latest earnings call that Tesla is better positioned to scale a robotaxi service because its cars and autonomous driving technology are cheaper to develop and quicker to deploy. However, he has missed deadlines to deliver on those promises several times. In 2019, Musk said Tesla could bring one million robotaxis on the road by the next year.
The Toyota collaboration is a reminder that Waymo is thinking about how to leverage its autonomous driving technology to expand into other lines of business, like being a software and hardware provider to OEMs that sell personal cars.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said during Thursday's earnings call that there is "future optionality around personal ownership as well. "
Cofounder and former Waymo CEO John Krafcik told Business Insider in March that anyone who doesn't know if Waymo wants to be more than just a rideshare competitor "hasn't been paying attention."
"Waymo has been clear on all of these business lines as applications for the Waymo Driver," he said.
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