Alphabet Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) autonomous cab service Waymo CEO Tekedra Mawakana took a swipe at Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) and its autonomous driving pursuits as the Robotaxi race heats up in the U.S.
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Tekedra Mawakana Thinks It’s Important For AV Companies To Be Transparent
Speaking at a media event hosted by Techcrunch on Monday, Mawakana was asked for her view on AV companies working towards ensuring safety on the road. "I think there is a responsibility if you're gonna put vehicles on the road and you're gonna remove the driver from behind the wheel," Mawakana said, adding that transparency is important if the autonomous vehicles are monitored by remote operators.
"It is incumbent upon you to be transparent about what is happening," Mawakana said. She went on to say that if companies weren't being transparent with their practices, then they aren't taking the necessary steps to ensure safety. “It is my view that you [the companies] are not doing what’s necessary to earn the right to make the roads safer," Mawakana said during her appearance at the event.
Elon Musk Says Robotaxis To Go Driverless By End Of Year
The news comes as Tesla CEO Elon Musk, during the automaker's third-quarter earnings call, said that the Robotaxi service in Austin, which also operates on the highway with an onboard safety operator in the driver's seat, will go driverless by the end of 2025.
Musk also walked back his promise of having Tesla Robotaxis serve over 50% of the population of the U.S., with the EV giant now targeting an expansion into 8-10 major cities in the country.
Waymo Eyes London
Waymo has been targeting overseas expansion, with the company already announcing that it plans to bring its driverless service to London sometime next year. The company will work with its fleet operations partner, Moove, in the country. Waymo says it has clocked 100 million miles on the public roads in the U.S. already.
Dan Ives, Adam Jonas Bullish On Tesla
Meanwhile, Wedbush Securities investor Dan Ives reiterated his bullish views on Tesla following the earnings call, saying that the Robotaxi would be the biggest "competitive threat" to Uber Technologies Inc.'s (NYSE:UBER) business model.
Investment bank Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas, on the other hand, said that Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology, a crucial element of the Robotaxi, would translate to over $1.2 billion in annual revenue for the EV giant. He also claimed that Tesla had "solved" autonomous driving.
Elsewhere, NHTSA is currently investigating the FSD technology after the agency said it received reports of various traffic violations and multiple accidents involving Tesla vehicles on FSD or Autopilot.
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