Waymo crosses 450,000 weekly paid rides as Alphabet robotaxi unit widens lead on Tesla

Waymo, Alphabet's autonomous taxi service, has reached a significant milestone, now offering more than 450,000 paid rides each week. This impressive figure was highlighted in a recent letter from investor Tiger Global, which was reviewed by CNBC. Remarkably, this number has nearly doubled since April, when Waymo reported 250,000 weekly rides in the United States. In the letter, Tiger Global emphasized Waymo's dominance in the autonomous driving sector, claiming that their service is ten times safer than human-operated vehicles. As a testament to its success, Waymo remains one of the most prominent investments in Tiger's 2024 fund. This year has seen Waymo embark on numerous expansion initiatives, including its entry onto freeways in three major cities and the rollout of its autonomous services in urban areas such as Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando. The latest achievement further cements Waymo's lead over self-driving rival Tesla, which has conducted limited tests in cities like Austin and the Bay Area. During Tesla's recent earnings call, executives noted that their fleet had covered a quarter of a million miles in Austin and over a million in the Bay Area. Additionally, Waymo disclosed that it has achieved a remarkable 100 million miles of fully autonomous driving this July.