Alphabet’s self-driving unit Waymo cuts more than 100 jobs in second round of lay-offs
- The job cuts at Waymo are part of wider lay-offs across the car and tech industry, including at Rivian Automotive, General Motors and Meta Platforms
- Alphabet said in January it would slash 12,000 jobs, which would affect a large number of employees who support experimental projects
Alphabet’s self-driving technology unit Waymo laid off 137 employees, in its second round of job cuts this year, the firm told Reuters on Wednesday, bringing total cuts for the year to 8 per cent of its workforce.
Waymo has eliminated some engineering roles as part of the cuts to “focus on commercial success”, the company said in a statement. The company has now cut a total of 209 jobs this year.
The job cuts at Waymo are part of wider lay-offs across the car and tech industry, including at Rivian Automotive, General Motors and Meta Platforms.
Companies, in general, have found that developing fully autonomous vehicles that can go everywhere has proven harder and more expensive than expected, and prospects of a profitable robotaxi business likely remain several years away.
Investors and industry watchers have been concerned about billions of dollars that have been poured into the self-driving technology sector in a short span of time to commercialise it.
