Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has laid off 137 workers in its self-driving technology unit, Waymo, making this the second round of job cuts in 2023.
The firm told Reuters this on Wednesday. The layoff has affected about eight percent of Waymo’s workforce or 209 employees from January till date.
Reuters reported that concerns have been raised by investors and industry observers over how much money has been invested quickly to commercialize self-driving technology, amounting to billions of dollars.
Activist investor TCI Fund Management said in November that “Waymo is the biggest component of the Google-parent’s Other Bets segment and it has not justified excessive investment, adding that losses at the unit should be stemmed.”
This publication recalls that Google’s parent company in January announced its plans to slash 12,000 jobs.
According to the company, the job cuts affect 6% of its workforce. This follows thousands of layoffs announced by tech giants like Amazon,Microsoft Corp and Meta Platforms since late last year owing to recovery from the pandemic.
Meanwhile, these job cuts were reported would affect many employees who support practical projects.
