Size matters: In the Waymo vs Tesla war Elon Musk’s company is losing the battle of bulk
A battle of autonomous ride hailing services is taking place in Austin, Texas where latecomer Tesla’s Robotaxi is trying to challenge Alphabet’s Waymo.
The future of autonomous self-driving cars is becoming more and more of a reality as tech companies roll out robotaxi services in select cities across the nation. The autonomous arm of Google’s parent Alphabet, Waymo, has been leading the pack recently passing the milestone of over 100 million miles driven without a human behind the steering wheel.
But the battle of the autonomous ride hailing services is heating up, specifically in Austin, Texas, where Elon Musk’s Robotaxi launched its long-awaited and delayed service in late June. At first, the area where the company’s Tesla Model Ys could operate was very limited, but just a few weeks later the company expanded its geofenced area with a bit of vulgar humor.
However, Waymo didn’t take the challenge lying down and took up the gauntlet. It expanded its own area of operations from 37 square miles to 90 square miles across the Texas capital, covering a much more logical area.
That’s more than double the coverage of Tesla’s Robotaxi which is around 42 square miles. And only select Tesla influencers, owners and shareholders can use the service.
Tesla has an uphill battle against Waymo
Besides operating in a larger area than Tesla’s Robotaxi, currently, Waymo has a much bigger fleet of cars, 10-12 compared to 100, respectively. One of the problems for Tesla will be scaling up to catch up.
Waymo is clearly the frontrunner at the moment, operating nearly uncontested in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco.
It also is planning to begin service in Washington, DC, and Miami starting in 2026. It recently rolled out vehicles with human drivers in New York City and Tokyo, and will do so as well in Philadelphia, with plans for testing in 10 more US cities this year starting with Las Vegas and San Diego.
As of April, Waymo said it was booking more than 250,000 paid trips each week, which Forbes estimates is over 300,000 by now with expansions to its service areas.
While Musk has talked about greatly expanding his fleet and spreading his service to other cities, according to CEO Dara Khosrowshahi of Uber, which has teamed up with Waymo, there are plans in the works for “hundreds” more Waymos in the coming months.
Waymo itself announced in May that it plans to increase its 1,500-strong fleet of driverless vehicles by another 2,000 through next year.
Additionally, at the moment, the Tesla cars have a safety monitor along for the ride should something go wrong, while Waymo’s vehicles are completely driverless where it offers paid service. Furthermore, Tesla’s Robotaxi has a curfew, staying off Austin’s roads between midnight and 6 am, people can hail a Waymo 24/7 in available markets.
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