Driverless: Waymo and the Robotaxi Race—Under the Hood

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The Wall Street Journal

Technology

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2024

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Waymo, the self-driving car startup owned by Google parent Alphabet, may be the front-runner in the race to lead the driverless car industry, but it’s got competition. Elon Musk’s Tesla and Amazon’s Zoox are also building out robotaxi technology and services to get riders in self-driving cars. On the second episode of our special series on the growing driverless car industry, host Danny Lewis looks at these companies’ efforts to catch up and where Waymo’s success could take it and its tech into the future. What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected] Sign up for the WSJ's free The Future of Everything newsletter. Further reading: General Motors Scraps Cruise Robotaxi Program Musk Shows Off Driverless Robotaxi to Be Priced Under $30,000 Waymo, Uber, Lyft Are Biggest Winners From Tesla’s Robotaxi Flop Elon Musk Plays a Familiar Song: Robot Cars Are Coming Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	The Capital Ideas podcast now has a new monthly edition hosted by Capital Group CEO Mike Gitlin.
0:05.9	Investment professionals reveal their best mentors, how they find their next great idea,
0:10.1	and a few funny stories. Subscribe wherever you get your podcast. American Funds Distributors, Inc.
0:17.1	Back in October, after years of pledging its self-driving technology was just around the corner,
0:22.6	electric vehicle maker Tesla finally unveiled its first prototype driverless car.
0:29.6	Tesla's CEO Elon Musk walked out to techno music alongside someone wearing a SpaceX spacesuit.
0:35.6	Waving to the crowd, he stepped into the passenger side of a
0:38.9	sleek, gull-winged two-seater vehicle, which drove off to the main stage. No driver behind the
0:44.9	steering wheel. And, actually, no steering wheel at all.
0:49.3	As you can see, I just arrived in the Robo Taxi, the cyber cab.
0:54.1	Musk said these vehicles were designed to be entirely driverless.
0:58.3	No steering wheels, no brake or accelerator pedals, no sideview mirrors even.
1:03.8	The autonomous future is here, and it feels great.
1:07.2	It was a flashy and tightly choreographed event held on a set at Warner Brothers Studios
1:11.7	in Burbank, California. But it was light on details about the business and the cars.
1:17.5	And that left some investors disappointed. The day after the event, Tesla shares fell almost
1:23.2	9% in one of its worst days in 2024. Meanwhile, out in the real world, just a short drive over the
1:30.2	Hollywood Hills, members of the public can already hail a driverless car to get around Los Angeles,
1:36.4	owned, operated, and designed by the biggest name in the business. Waymo Robotaxies are
1:42.0	officially in service in L.A.
1:44.3	You can now order a ride across 63 square miles from downtown L.A. to Santa Monica without being forced to chit-chat with the driver if that's not your thing.
1:54.3	Streets only, no highway driving at this point.
	...

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