Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai announced Thursday that Waymo’s self-driving cars may eventually be offered for personal ownership, marking a possible shift in the company’s business strategy.
Until now, Waymo has primarily focused on autonomous ride-hailing services.
The announcement comes as Tesla gears up to launch its robotaxi service later this year, heightening the competition in the self-driving vehicle industry.
Pichai stated that “there is future optionality for personal ownership” of Waymo vehicles, though he offered no timeline or further details.
His comments come amid rising interest in autonomous transportation and follow Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s renewed commitment to launching robotaxis across multiple U.S. states by mid-2025.
Waymo, initially launched in 2009 as a Google project and spun off in 2016, operates over 700 vehicles, including 300 in San Francisco.
It remains the only U.S. company offering uncrewed, fare-collecting robotaxis.
While it contributes modestly to Alphabet’s overall valuation, Waymo completes more than 250,000 paid autonomous rides per week in cities like Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Austin, with plans for expansion into Atlanta, Miami, and Washington D.C.
Tesla, in contrast, relies exclusively on camera-based vision and artificial intelligence to power its vehicles, which helps reduce production costs.
Musk recently stated that Tesla’s robotaxis cost just 20 to 25 per cent of a Waymo vehicle’s price, with production happening at scale.
In comparison, Waymo uses a more costly sensor suite, including lidar and radar, to create 3D maps of the driving environment, focusing on safety and redundancy.
