Overview

• Former Waymo CEO John Krafcik said Tesla’s offering is not a robotaxi because an employee remains in the vehicle, and he expressed no interest in trying it.
• Tesla’s service is invite-only in the Bay Area with a safety monitor in the driver seat, and its Austin pilot uses an in-car supervisor, as Elon Musk touts plans to expand access and reach more than half the U.S. population this year.
• Waymo began fully driverless paid rides in 2020 and is now testing a sixth-generation hardware suite with multiple cameras, radar and lidar, with recent trials showing a safety driver during testing.
• Riders in Atlanta using Uber report canceling human-driven trips to get matched with Waymo vehicles, highlighting demand for driverless rides within limited, non-freeway trip parameters.
• Tesla faces escalating scrutiny, including a California DMV lawsuit alleging false advertising over Autopilot and a Miami jury verdict finding the company partly responsible for a fatal crash with a $240 million award, alongside a new shareholder suit over robotaxi claims.