Alphabet Inc‘s self-driving expertise unit, Waymo, laid off 137 workers, in its second spherical of job cuts this yr, the agency instructed Reuters on Wednesday, bringing whole cuts for the yr to eight% of its workforce.
Waymo has eradicated some engineering roles as a part of the cuts to “concentrate on industrial success,” the corporate mentioned in a press release. The corporate has now lower a complete of 209 jobs this yr.
The job cuts at Waymo are a part of wider layoffs throughout the auto and tech business, together with at Rivian Automotive Inc, Basic Motors Co and Meta Platforms Inc.
Corporations, normally, have discovered that growing totally autonomous autos (AVs) that may go in all places has confirmed tougher and dearer than anticipated, and prospects of a worthwhile robotaxi enterprise doubtless stay a number of years away.
Traders and business watchers have been involved about billions of {dollars} which were poured into the self-driving expertise sector in a brief span of time to commercialize it.
Ford Motor Co and Volkswagen AG pulled the plug on self-driving unit Argo AI in November. Basic Motors Co burned by almost $2 billion in 2022 at its robotaxi unit, Cruise, and mentioned it anticipates spending much more this yr.
Activist investor TCI Fund Administration mentioned in November that Waymo is the largest part of the Google-parent’s Different Bets phase and it has not justified extreme funding.
Alphabet mentioned in January it might slash 12,000 jobs, which might have an effect on numerous workers who help experimental tasks. Its well being science unit, Verily Life Sciences, mentioned in January it had laid off over 200 workers, or about 15% of its workforce.
FbTwitterLinkedin
