By Abhirup Roy and Deborah Mary Sophia
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Alphabet’s Waymo self-driving taxis may be available for people to own in the future, CEO Sundar Pichai said on Thursday, just as electric vehicle maker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) gears up to roll out robotaxis this year in the United States.
Waymo, which started as a small self-driving project in 2009 and spun out of Google seven years later, has expanded slowly but steadily in a tricky autonomous vehicle market that has witnessed several casualties due to soaring investment, tight regulatory requirements and tough technological hurdles.
With more than 700 vehicles in its fleet - 300 of which operate in San Francisco - Waymo is the only U.S. firm that runs uncrewed robotaxis that collect fares.
Pichai, on a post-earnings conference call, did not provide a timeline or any detail on how it plans to sell Waymo vehicles, beyond saying "there is future optionality for personal ownership."
Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently commented on the higher cost of Waymo cars compared with Tesla’s.
Waymo’s vehicles use a combination of cameras and expensive sensors such as lidar to create a three-dimensional map of the road, adding redundancy to increase safety. In contrast, Tesla depends only on camera vision and artificial intelligence, which allows it to keep costs in check.
"Teslas probably cost a quarter, 20%, of what a Waymo costs and made in very high volume," Musk said after Tesla earnings on Tuesday. "I don’t see anyone being able to compete with Tesla at present."
Musk has bet Tesla’s future on robotaxis, and has said owners will eventually be able to make money by listing their vehicles on a ride-hailing app.
The company aims to launch a robotaxi service in several U.S. states this year, a target that autonomy experts have called ambitious given the difficulty the technology has in responding to scenarios such as inclement weather, complex intersections and pedestrian behavior.
Rival Cruise, a unit of General Motors (NYSE:GM), shut shop last year following a major accident that led to a federal investigation and a small criminal fine.
Tesla has long blamed its customers for accidents involving the driver-assistance systems it calls Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD), noting that it warns Tesla owners to stay ready to take over driving. Its robotaxis would place crash liability squarely on Tesla.
On Tuesday, Tesla stuck to its previously announced June timeline for launching a paid robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, where it faces minimal regulation. It also has plans to launch in California and some other U.S. states.
GROWING THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS
Waymo, which has tested its technology for years, is now focusing on growing its presence through partnerships with companies such as ride-hailing firm Uber (NYSE:UBER), fleet operator Moove and automakers Hyundai (OTC:HYMTF), Zeekr and Jaguar.
Waymo would likely offer personal ownership of its robotaxis through a partnership model, said David Heger, an analyst at Edward Jones. "Google doesn’t build its own automobiles and I certainly don’t think they would try to get into that business," he said.
Though the unit accounts for only a fraction of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s valuation, Waymo has said it was running more than 250,000 fully autonomous paid rides a week. It operates in San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Austin and plans to start in Atlanta, Miami and Washington, D.C.
Pichai’s comments were in response to an analyst’s question about Waymo’s future. "This is probably the first question I’ve got on an earnings call on Waymo," Pichai joked. "It’s a sign of its progress."