Latest news with #Krafcik
The Herald
2 days ago
- Automotive
- The Herald
How Tesla plans to remotely operate its robotaxis — and where the limits lie
Driving vehicles remotely on public roads has a major potential problem: it relies on cellular data connections that can drop or operate with a lag, disconnecting the vehicle from the remote driver in dangerous situations. Philip Koopman, a Carnegie Mellon University engineering professor and autonomous-vehicle safety expert, said that approach could work for a small test deployment of 10 vehicles, such as Tesla's initial effort in Austin, but he called teleoperation 'inherently unreliable technology'. 'Eventually you will lose connection at exactly the worst time,' he said. 'If they've done their homework, this won't ever happen for 10 cars. With a million cars, it's going to happen every day.' Former Waymo CEO Krafcik agreed, adding that the time delay in cell signal makes remote driving 'very risky'. On the other hand, relying on the vehicle to reach out for help and allowing the vehicle to be the decisionmaker are risky as well, Koopman said, as it does not guarantee the vehicle will make the right decision.
Time of India
26-04-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
Elon Musk calls Google-owned Waymo ‘expensive', former robotaxi company CEO fires back: ‘They've failed utterly and…'
Google-owned Waymo's former CEO has responded to the remarks made by Tesla CEO Elon Musk about the self-driving car project during the company's recent earnings call about Waymo's expensive sensor suite and its approach to autonomous driving. In a sharp rebuttal, John Krafcik – who led Waymo from 2015 to 2021 – said that Tesla has yet to demonstrate any real-world competitive presence in the robotaxi market. Musk projected a rapid expansion to 'millions' of fully autonomous Teslas by the second half of next year. 'Tesla has never competed with Waymo — they've never sold a robotaxi ride to a public rider, but they've sold a lot of cars,' Krafcik said in an email to Business Insider. 'And although Tesla hopes to compete with Waymo someday, they've failed utterly and completely at this for each of the 10 years they've been talking about it,' he added. Musk informed the investors that the initial 'pilot' rollout in Austin this June will consist of 10 to 20 robotaxis, which will be Tesla Model Y cars. He also claimed that Tesla will have a market-share domination of '99% or something ridiculous.' What Musk said during earnings call Musk touted Tesla's camera-based, 'generalised' AI approach as superior to Waymo's lidar-heavy, pre-mapped strategy, claiming it would lead to lower costs and higher production volumes. 'The issue with Waymo's cars is it costs way more money,' Musk said. While Tesla is said to adapt to various driving environments without the need of pre-mapping a particular region, Waymo maps out a city with its cars before deploying a robotaxi service. Krafcik dismissed Musk's cost arguments, emphasising the importance of safety. He argued that the long-term cost of sensors is 'trivial' compared to the 'massive quantifiable safety benefits' they provide. Krafcik also cast doubt on Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology, which is central to its robotaxi vision. Despite Tesla's claims and recent previews of its robotaxi app, he pointed to the lack of a fully autonomous, publicly available service. 'Well, after 10 years of undelivered promises, it seems pretty rational for those watching to be data- and evidence-driven,' Krafcik said. 'There's still a lot of promises, still no Tesla liability for FSD driving performance, and still no universal robotaxi service,' he added, while noting that Tesla's FSD has improved but stressed that this does not equate to a proven, safe and truly autonomous robotaxi service.
Business Insider
25-04-2025
- Automotive
- Business Insider
Ex-Waymo CEO shoots back after Elon Musk's Tesla earnings diss
Tesla CEO Elon Musk took multiple digs at one of his biggest competitors in the robotaxi race, Waymo, during Tuesday's earnings call. Ex-Waymo CEO John Krafcik shot back: Check the scoreboard. " Tesla has never competed with Waymo — they've never sold a robotaxi ride to a public rider, but they've sold a lot of cars," Krafcik said in an email to Business Insider. "And although Tesla hopes to compete with Waymo someday, they've failed utterly and completely at this for each of the 10 years they've been talking about it." Krafick led Waymo between 2015 and 2021, overseeing the self-driving division's spin-out from Alphabet in 2016. He was replaced with two co-CEOs, Tekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov. Krafick currently serves on Rivian's board. Tesla made another big push for its robotaxi bet during its latest earnings presentation. Musk said the initial "pilot" rollout in Austin this June will consist of 10 to 20 robotaxis, using Tesla Model Ys. The ramp-up afterwards will be quick, he said, predicting "millions" of fully-autonomous Teslas on the road by the second half of next year and a market-share domination of "99% or something ridiculous." The CEO sounded confident on the call about Tesla's approach to autonomy, which relies on cameras and a "generalized" AI that the company said will be able to adapt to various driving environments without the need of pre-mapping a particular region. That's different from Waymo. Waymo maps out a city like San Francisco or Tokyo with its cars before deploying a robotaxi service to the public, and it uses a generous set of lidar sensors and cameras. Musk has said before that this approach is arduous and expensive, and he reiterated his point during the earnings call. "The issue with Waymo's cars is it costs way more money," Musk said, making a play on Waymo's name. "Rim shot." He later added: "Waymo decided that an expensive sensor suite was the way to go, even though Google's very good at AI. It's ironic." Musk estimated that Tesla could make robotaxis that cost a "quarter to 20%" less than the cost of Waymo's Jaguar I-PACE vehicles — and it'll do so at higher volumes through its unique manufacturing methods. Krafcik, the ex-Waymo CEO, thinks the cost talk is a moot point when considering safety. In the long run, the cost of sensors has a "trivial cost-per-mile impact over the useful life of a robotaxi," he told BI," while also providing massive quantifiable safety benefits." 'Undelivered promises' Tesla's robotaxi vision hinges on a key piece of technology it calls Full Self-Driving, which is powered by the company's own hardware stack. To date, the company has not rolled out a public version of the software that operates without the supervision of a human driver. On Wednesday, the company shared a post on X, previewing the robotaxi app and service in Silicon Valley. Tesla said in the post that the company has completed over 1,500 trips and 15,000 miles of driving. The video showed a person hailing a Model Y. One scene showed a safety operator sitting behind the wheel. RBC Capital Markets analyst Tom Narayan said in his latest forecast that Tesla could generate $80 billion in robotaxi revenue a year in the US by 2040. Krafcik is skeptical. "Well, after 10 years of undelivered promises, it seems pretty rational for those watching to be data- and evidence-driven," he said. "There's still a lot of promises, still no Tesla liability for FSD driving performance, and still no universal robotaxi service." The former CEO acknowledged that Tesla's FSD has improved, but he argued that that's different from showing that the company has a safe, "truly autonomous" robotaxi service.
