John Krafcik, the man who led Waymo’s path from a research project to a commercial autonomous ride-hailing business, is skeptical about Tesla’s Robotaxi.
Business Insider sought the former Waymo CEO’s thoughts on Tesla’s Robotaxi Bay Area launch. Krafcik led Waymo from 2015 to 2021. He now sits on the board for Rivian, a Tesla rival in the electric vehicle space.
“If they were striving to re-create today’s Bay Area Uber experience,” he told Business Insider over email, “looks like they’ve absolutely nailed it.”
Tesla rolled out a ride-hailing service in the San Francisco Bay Area in July, about a month after it began its pilot of Robotaxi. A human safety monitor sits behind the steering wheel since Tesla has yet to apply for permits that would allow the company to test and deploy fully driverless taxis in California.
The service remains invite-only. CEO Elon Musk said on August 10 that Tesla’s Robotaxi will be “open access” by next month.
In Austin, where rules around autonomous vehicle deployment are less stringent, a human safety monitor sits in the front passenger seat of the Model Y.
For Krafcik, the presence of an employee inside the car is proof that Tesla has yet to show off a real robotaxi service.
“Please let me know when Tesla launches a robotaxi — I’m still waiting,” he told Business Insider. “It’s (rather obviously) not a robotaxi if there’s an employee inside the car.”
Krafcik told Business Insider he has no interest in trying Tesla’s Robotaxi.
Waymo’s initial rollout in 2017 shared a few similarities to Tesla’s Robotaxi launch.
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At the time, Waymo began what it called an “early rider program” in Arizona, allowing a select group of people to try the company’s service. Safety drivers were present in the cars, and riders were temporarily put under a nondisclosure agreement.
Spokespeople for Waymo and Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.
While there’s no industry standard definition of a robot taxi, the Society of Automotive Engineers outlines six levels of autonomous driving, ranging from 0 to 6. The SAE taxonomy defines Level 4 and Level 5 as autonomous driving that does not require a human to physically take over the wheel when requested.
Business Insider reported in May that Tesla has yet to use a permit that allows testing for cars that are Level 3 and above. It’s not yet clear if Tesla’s Robotaxi in the Bay Area would be considered Level 3, which only requires a driver to take over the vehicle when the autonomous driving system requests an intervention.
Waymo began offering fully driverless paid rides in Phoenix near the end of 2020 and has since expanded the service in several US cities, including SF, Los Angeles, and Austin, with more than 1,500 robotaxis on the road.
In 2019, when Waymo had a program that allowed select members of the public to try the service with a safety driver in the car, two riders told Business Insider at the time that the rides were nearly flawless but encountered several situations where the safety driver had to intervene.