Waymo benefits from a broader sensor suite—cameras, radar and Lidar—and lacks Tesla's cultural and political baggage, but sensor breadth does not ensure flawless passenger transport. Robotaxi deployments are already affecting labor markets, with human driver wages falling in cities where services operate. One major Chinese EV maker suffered a bruising second quarter as a price war cut deeply into profits. Tesla's robotaxi effort is currently a limited Austin pilot with safety drivers; Tesla reported global deliveries down 13%, revenue down 12%, and European sales falling sharply between January and July. Tesla promotes a camera-and-AI scaling approach despite constrained availability.
There's a general sentiment in the robotaxi world that Waymo, Google parent Alphabet's driverless ride-hailing service, is somehow the "good guy" or all robotaxis out there. Waymo uses a more comprehensive suite of sensors such as cameras, radar and Lidar. It doesn't have the cultural and political baggage of Tesla. But that doesn't automatically make it flawless at the core task, which is ferrying passengers in autonomous EVs safely.
Tesla's self-driving ambitions date back more than a decade. They only came to life this year with a pilot program in Austin, limited to a handful of loyal Tesla fans who can summon a Model Y robotaxi, safety driver still included. But Tesla desperately needs this gamble to pay off. Its core passenger vehicle business is in freefall. Global deliveries dropped 13% in the second quarter, while revenue fell 12%.
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