Uber (UBER) has expanded its partnership with Waymo to offer driverless rides in Atlanta and Austin in early 2025. Waymo is a subsidiary of Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL)
Carnegie Mellon University associate professor Phil Koopman joins Asking for a Trend to break down the news and the overall viability of the robotaxi trend.
Koopman notes the significance of Waymo advancing its fleet: “The question is what kind of growing pains they’ll have as they start operating in new cities.” He expects “more surprises” for the company, pointing to incidents where its robotaxis have interfered with emergency responders, like blocking firehouse driveways.
“I expect Waymo to pay attention, and I expect them to try and fix things, but we won’t know what the particular problems are until we see them,” Koopman adds.
He explains that while robotaxi companies like Waymo say that safety is top-of-mind, “the reality is nobody knows how this will turn out.” Driverless vehicles are a new development, and there is simply not enough data to come to a conclusion about whether they offer more safety than human drivers.
“There’s enough data now to know that small crashes, fender benders, and minor injuries, there’s enough data that says Waymo seems to be on track for that… They need another 10 times more miles, another 20, 50 times more miles before we know how it turns out for fatalities,” Koopman tells Yahoo Finance.
While many investors are bullish on robotaxis, Koopman casts doubt on its sustainability as a business model: “I have trouble seeing robotaxis as a business model because it’s a cheaper ride hail and the technology is really sophisticated, expensive. It requires a lot of support.” He argues that this could change down the line, but as the technology stands, it may be difficult to scale up.
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This post was written by Melanie Riehl
