Ex-Waymo CEO John Krafcik: ‘Tesla’s robotaxis don’t stand a chance against Waymo’s advanced technology’
 
In 2021, towards the end of his career at Waymo, John Krafcik said that Tesla was not a serious competitor in the field of robotaxis. He made it clear that the company is merely an automobile manufacturer with an advanced driver assistance system.
 
‘Tesla has been trying to compete with Waymo for almost a decade, but still hasn’t made it,’ Krafcik explained. ’The company has not yet enabled a single fully autonomous, revenue-generating ride—something Waymo has now done millions of times over.’
 
Last year, Tesla presented the Cybercab, a robotaxi concept car that failed to meet expectations. Industry experts criticised the design and practicality of the model. Krafcik was also sceptical, stating that a serious company that wanted to offer safe robotaxis would not pursue such a vehicle concept.

Comparing Technology Approaches

The debate about autonomous vehicles often revolves around the question of sensor technology. Many experts agree that safe and reliable systems require both lidar and camera sensors, while Tesla relies on cameras alone to save costs.
 
Krafcik considers this argument to be insufficient. ‘The cost of a robust sensor set, including lidar, is minimal compared to the safety benefits. The benefits, in terms of avoiding human harm, are significant and clearly demonstrable.’

Waymo’s Positioning

Since stepping down in 2021, Krafcik has sat on Rivian’s board and continued to follow developments in autonomous driving. He is convinced that Waymo has a clear lead, both technologically and in implementation.
 
Waymo now offers over 200,000 rides a week in cities such as Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco, and it has recently started testing in Tokyo. Other providers, such as Zoox and Chinese companies, are also trying to gain a foothold in this market.
 
Krafcik praised the progress made by Waymo and sees the company as a leader for the next few years. ‘Waymo is the only company that is successfully deploying and continuously improving an AI-driven replacement for human drivers at scale.’

Perspectives for the Future

Waymo’s goal is not only to operate as a driving service, but also to develop a platform for autonomous driving technology that can be used in different types of vehicles. Experts speculate about a possible IPO of Waymo, which could bring the company up to a value of 850 billion US dollars.
 
However, Krafcik emphasised that Waymo is in no hurry. ‘The company has patient investors and a solid base. Unlike many other start-ups in the field of autonomous driving, Waymo is a technology leader and does not need to rely on the public market to survive.’
 
Indeed, apart from Waymo, we cannot yet see any provider that can safely transport a large number of passengers to their destination every day. Where is Amazon (NASDAQ:), where are the Chinese, where are the Germans?
 
What is certain, however, is that Waymo will make a growing contribution to Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:) success in the future. Autonomous driving could be one of the next big growth markets. Is Google stock a buy already?
 
A look at the numbers is promising. So is the development over the past five years compared to the and the benchmark group:
 

However, we still see risks from a chart perspective:  

Although the stock now has the chance to continue its upward trend, we think it is trading more as a corrective upward movement that could run up to the resistance cluster of the red box at $183.12 to $198.21. However, the stock will probably fail there and finally sell off down to the zone of the purple box at $137.33 to $106.45. A very strong trend reversal will then occur there. At the latest at that level, the stock is definitely a buy.
 
The alternative profit from the recent increase and the structure of the same significantly in weight. If the stock effortlessly passes through the resistance cluster, it can be expected that the stock has fully returned to the uptrend. Then it is a buy. We’ll see how the structure develops.

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