Just months after a CEO shakeup, Waymo is officially halting sales of its custom sensors to third parties. The move sees the Alphabet-owned self-driving company unwinding a business operation just two years into its lifespan. Waymo confirmed the decision to Reuters, adding that it's now focusing on deploying its Waymo Driver tech across its Waymo One ride-hailing and Waymo Via trucking divisions. The decision comes in the wake of long-term CEO John Krafcik's departure, who was replaced at the helm by Waymo execs Tekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov. Some suggested that Krafcik's deliberate approach was hindering the company's push toward commercialization. Earlier this month, Waymo hit a milestone of 20 billion miles driven in simulations, with 20 million on public roads.

Alphabet's fully autonomous driving unit Waymo is ready to offer rides to select passengers in San Francisco, the company announced on Tuesday. Starting later today, residents can sign up to become "Trusted Testers." With an invite to the program, you can use the Waymo One app to take rides in the fleet of Jaguar I-Pace vehicles Waymo will have stationed in the city. Waymo describes the Trusted Tester program as a "research-focused" effort designed to help it collect feedback on its ride experience, with an emphasis on gathering information related to accessibility. "We kicked off this program last week with a select few and are now expanding the program to all interested San Franciscans," the company said.

Waymo's chief financial officer Ger Dwyer and its head of automotive partnerships and corporate development Adam Frost -- two longtime executives at the autonomous vehicle company -- are leaving this month, departures that comes amid some executive shuffling following CEO John Krafcik's exit earlier this year. Dwyer and Frost's departure was shared internally this week, according to multiple sources. Waymo has confirmed to TechCrunch that Dwyer and Frost are leaving. "We're grateful to Ger and Adam for all they've done for Waymo and wish them all the best," a spokesperson said in an emailed statement. "An executive search is underway for a new CFO to lead us into our next chapter as we continue to build, deploy and commercialize the Waymo Driver."

Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving car subsidiary, has reshuffled its top executive lineup. John Krafcik, Waymo's CEO since 2015, announced on April 2 that he would be stepping down from his role. Krafcik is being replaced by former COO Tekedra Mawakana and former CTO Dmitri Dolgov and will remain as an advisor to the company. "[With] the fully autonomous Waymo One ride-hailing service open to all in our launch area of Metro Phoenix, and with the fifth generation of the Waymo Driver being prepared for deployment in ride-hailing and goods delivery, it's a wonderful opportunity for me to pass the baton to Tekedra and Dmitri as Waymo's co-CEOs," Krafcik wrote on LinkedIn. The change in leadership could have significant implications for Waymo, which has seen many ups and downs as it develops its driverless car business.

Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving car subsidiary, is reshuffling its top executive lineup. On April 2, John Krafcik, Waymo's CEO since 2015, declared that he will be stepping down from his role. He will be replaced by Tekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov, the company's former COO and CTO. Krafcik will remain as an advisor to the company. "[With] the fully autonomous Waymo One ride-hailing service open to all in our launch area of Metro Phoenix, and with the fifth generation of the Waymo Driver being prepared for deployment in ride-hailing and goods delivery, it's a wonderful opportunity for me to pass the baton to Tekedra and Dmitri as Waymo's co-CEOs," Krafcik wrote on LinkedIn as he declared his departure.

After five-and-a-half years of leading Alphabet's fully autonomous driving unit, Waymo CEO John Krafcik plans to hand over the job of running the company to two of his colleagues. The two executives previously served as the company's COO and CTO, respectively. They've also been at Waymo for several years, with Dolgov's tenure going back to 2009 when the unit was still under the Google umbrella. The move is also notable in that it puts a woman of color at the head of one of the world's leading autonomous vehicle technology companies. Krafcik says he'll continue to serve as an advisor to Waymo, but it also seems like he wants to take a break from the tech world.

Waymo LLC Chief Executive John Krafcik is leaving the company after more than five years, bringing an end to the former auto executive's leadership of Google parent Alphabet Inc.'s driverless car effort. The company said Friday that it is promoting its chief technology and operating officers, Dmitri Dolgov and Tekedra Mawakana, to lead a decade-old effort to make self-driving cars a reality. They will share the title of co-chief executive. Under Mr. Krafcik, Waymo broadened its business beyond years of mapping roads and designing software to begin running robotaxis around a segment of Phoenix. He also led Waymo's conversion into an independent subsidiary of Alphabet and raised an external investment round of $3.25 billion.

Many Tesla fans view the electric carmaker as a world leader in self-driving technology. CEO Elon Musk himself has repeatedly claimed that the company is less than two years away from perfecting fully self-driving technology. But in an interview with Germany's Manager magazine, Waymo CEO John Krafcik dismissed Tesla as a Waymo competitor and argued that Tesla's current strategy was unlikely to ever produce a fully self-driving system. "For us, Tesla is not a competitor at all," Krafcik said. "We manufacture a completely autonomous driving system. Tesla is an automaker that is developing a really good driver assistance system."

DETROIT (Reuters) - Waymo on Thursday will relaunch and expand its fully automated, robo-taxi ride hailing service in Phoenix, rebooting its effort to transform years of autonomous vehicle research into a revenue-producing business. Some of the Waymo vans in Phoenix will still have attendants on board. Waymo has not said where or when it will expand its robo-taxi business beyond Phoenix. "You can imagine we'd love the opportunity to bring the Waymo One driver to our home state of California," Krafcik said. Before the coronavirus pandemic forced Waymo to suspend operations this spring, Waymo was using vehicles with no human attendant on board to provide five to ten percent out of a total of 1,000 to 2,000 rides per week in its Phoenix service zone, Krafcik said.

Waymo said Thursday that it is opening its fully driverless ride-hailing service in suburban Phoenix to the public. Alphabet Inc.'s self-driving car unit began ferrying a select group of a few hundred customers, known as "early riders," in vehicles without safety drivers in the summer of 2019. After receiving feedback from those riders, who were bound by non-disclosure agreements not to discuss their experiences publicly, the company is making driverless rides in its Chrysler Pacifica minivans available to all users in the Phoenix area. "It's a really, really big deal, we think, for us, and for the world," said Waymo Chief Executive Officer John Krafcik in a conference call with reporters on Wednesday. It's been five years since Waymo provided the first-ever passenger trip in a driverless vehicle on a public road.