Latest news with #Krafcik
Time of India
11 hours ago
- Automotive
- Time of India
Former CEO of Google-owned Waymo says Elon Musk's Tesla Robotaxi is ‘not a robotaxi if…'
John Krafcik, the former CEO of Waymo who turned 's self-driving car project into a commercial ride-hailing business, has raised doubts about Tesla's Robotaxi. Speaking to Business Insider, Krafcik questioned whether Tesla's service qualifies as a true robotaxi. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now "If they were striving to re-create today's Bay Area Uber experience," he told the publication over email, adding "looks like they've absolutely nailed it." For those unaware, Tesla launched its Robotaxi service in Austin in June this year, followed by San Francisco in July. In Austin, where rules are looser, Tesla places a safety monitor in the passenger seat instead of the driver's seat. Also, a human safety driver sits behind the wheel because Tesla has not yet applied for California permits to test or deploy fully driverless vehicles. The service is currently invite-only, though CEO Elon Musk said on August 10 that it will be 'open access' next month. Krafcik said Tesla's reliance on in-car employees shows that the service is not truly autonomous. 'Please let me know when Tesla launches a robotaxi — I'm still waiting,' he said. 'It's (rather obviously) not a robotaxi if there's an employee inside the car.' He further stated that he has no interest in trying Tesla's robotaxi services. Krafcik added that he has no interest in trying the service himself. Tesla Robotaxi similar to Waymo's early approach: Report According to the Business Insider report, Tesla's rollout has similarities to Waymo's early days. In 2017, Waymo launched an 'early rider program' in Arizona, where safety drivers were present and participants signed nondisclosure agreements. By late 2020, Waymo began offering fully driverless paid rides in Phoenix and has since expanded to San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin, with more than 1,500 robotaxis operatin
Business Insider
a day ago
- Automotive
- Business Insider
Waymo's former CEO is not impressed with Tesla's Robotaxi
John Krafcik, the man who led Waymo's path from a research project to a commercial autonomous ride-hailing business, is skeptical about Tesla's Robotaxi. Business Insider sought the former Waymo CEO's thoughts on Tesla's Robotaxi Bay Area launch. Krafcik led Waymo from 2015 to 2021. He now sits on the board for Rivian, a Tesla rival in the electric vehicle space. "If they were striving to re-create today's Bay Area Uber experience," he told Business Insider over email, "looks like they've absolutely nailed it." Tesla rolled out a ride-hailing service in the San Francisco Bay Area in July, about a month after it began its pilot of Robotaxi. A human safety monitor sits behind the steering wheel since Tesla has yet to apply for permits that would allow the company to test and deploy fully driverless taxis in California. The service remains invite-only. CEO Elon Musk said on August 10 that Tesla's Robotaxi will be "open access" by next month. In Austin, where rules around autonomous vehicle deployment are less stringent, a human safety monitor sits in the front passenger seat of the Model Y. For Krafcik, the presence of an employee inside the car is proof that Tesla has yet to show off a real robotaxi service. "Please let me know when Tesla launches a robotaxi — I'm still waiting," he told Business Insider. "It's (rather obviously) not a robotaxi if there's an employee inside the car." Krafcik told Business Insider he has no interest in trying Tesla's Robotaxi. Waymo's initial rollout in 2017 shared a few similarities to Tesla's Robotaxi launch. At the time, Waymo began what it called an " early rider program" in Arizona, allowing a select group of people to try the company's service. Safety drivers were present in the cars, and riders were temporarily put under a nondisclosure agreement. While there's no industry standard definition of a robot taxi, the Society of Automotive Engineers outlines six levels of autonomous driving, ranging from 0 to 6. The SAE taxonomy defines Level 4 and Level 5 as autonomous driving that does not require a human to physically take over the wheel when requested. Business Insider reported in May that Tesla has yet to use a permit that allows testing for cars that are Level 3 and above. It's not yet clear if Tesla's Robotaxi in the Bay Area would be considered Level 3, which only requires a driver to take over the vehicle when the autonomous driving system requests an intervention. Waymo began offering fully driverless paid rides in Phoenix near the end of 2020 and has since expanded the service in several US cities, including SF, Los Angeles, and Austin, with more than 1,500 robotaxis on the road. In 2019, when Waymo had a program that allowed select members of the public to try the service with a safety driver in the car, two riders told Business Insider at the time that the rides were nearly flawless but encountered several situations where the safety driver had to intervene.
The Herald
21-06-2025
- Automotive
- The Herald
How Tesla plans to remotely operate its robotaxis — and where the limits lie
Driving vehicles remotely on public roads has a major potential problem: it relies on cellular data connections that can drop or operate with a lag, disconnecting the vehicle from the remote driver in dangerous situations. Philip Koopman, a Carnegie Mellon University engineering professor and autonomous-vehicle safety expert, said that approach could work for a small test deployment of 10 vehicles, such as Tesla's initial effort in Austin, but he called teleoperation 'inherently unreliable technology'. 'Eventually you will lose connection at exactly the worst time,' he said. 'If they've done their homework, this won't ever happen for 10 cars. With a million cars, it's going to happen every day.' Former Waymo CEO Krafcik agreed, adding that the time delay in cell signal makes remote driving 'very risky'. On the other hand, relying on the vehicle to reach out for help and allowing the vehicle to be the decisionmaker are risky as well, Koopman said, as it does not guarantee the vehicle will make the right decision.
Time of India
26-04-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
Elon Musk calls Google-owned Waymo ‘expensive', former robotaxi company CEO fires back: ‘They've failed utterly and…'
Google-owned Waymo's former CEO has responded to the remarks made by Tesla CEO Elon Musk about the self-driving car project during the company's recent earnings call about Waymo's expensive sensor suite and its approach to autonomous driving. In a sharp rebuttal, John Krafcik – who led Waymo from 2015 to 2021 – said that Tesla has yet to demonstrate any real-world competitive presence in the robotaxi market. Musk projected a rapid expansion to 'millions' of fully autonomous Teslas by the second half of next year. '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,' he added. Musk informed the investors that the initial 'pilot' rollout in Austin this June will consist of 10 to 20 robotaxis, which will be Tesla Model Y cars. He also claimed that Tesla will have a market-share domination of '99% or something ridiculous.' What Musk said during earnings call Musk touted Tesla's camera-based, 'generalised' AI approach as superior to Waymo's lidar-heavy, pre-mapped strategy, claiming it would lead to lower costs and higher production volumes. 'The issue with Waymo's cars is it costs way more money,' Musk said. While Tesla is said to adapt to various driving environments without the need of pre-mapping a particular region, Waymo maps out a city with its cars before deploying a robotaxi service. Krafcik dismissed Musk's cost arguments, emphasising the importance of safety. He argued that the long-term cost of sensors is 'trivial' compared to the 'massive quantifiable safety benefits' they provide. Krafcik also cast doubt on Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology, which is central to its robotaxi vision. Despite Tesla's claims and recent previews of its robotaxi app, he pointed to the lack of a fully autonomous, publicly available service. 'Well, after 10 years of undelivered promises, it seems pretty rational for those watching to be data- and evidence-driven,' Krafcik said. 'There's still a lot of promises, still no Tesla liability for FSD driving performance, and still no universal robotaxi service,' he added, while noting that Tesla's FSD has improved but stressed that this does not equate to a proven, safe and truly autonomous robotaxi service.
Business Insider
25-04-2025
- Automotive
- Business Insider
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.
