This decade will likely go down in history as the one where electric vehicles truly took off. Now, as automakers sow the seeds for self-driving cars, the next decade could be the era of the robotaxi. And no, they probably won’t be limited to fleets and ride-hailing services. Personal self-driving cars are very much on the table. Tesla says they’re coming. Alphabet, Waymo’s parent company, is also suggesting as much.
Welcome to the Friday edition of Critical Materials, your daily round-up of news and events shaping the world of electric cars and technology. Also on the radar today: Tesla CEO Elon Musk may have scored a win as the Trump administration announced looser regulations for autonomous vehicles. And Volkswagen jumps on the extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) bandwagon after showcasing the ID. Era at Auto Shanghai. It plans to develop its own EREV powertrain for Europe.
30%: Waymo AVs As Personal Vehicles?
Waymo has come a long way. It started as a small autonomous vehicle (AV) project under Google in 2009. In 2017, it first started testing a fleet of Chrysler Pacifica minivans in Phoenix, Arizona, before launching a commercial service for the public the following year.
It then expanded to San Francisco in 2021 with the Jaguar I-Pace electric crossover retrofitted with radars, LiDAR and cameras. These cars are now in L.A. and Austin, with Atlanta and Washington D.C. coming soon. There were regulatory hurdles, safety investigations and also accidents, but Alphabet continued investing in Waymo to maintain its lead. And the fleet is growing fast—Waymo is already operating 700 robotaxis in the U.S., of which 300 are in San Francisco alone.
Now Alphabet could help drive its sales further, especially if it’s outfitted with cutting-edge self-driving hardware and software. Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Alphabet, said in Thursday’s earnings call that the tech giant is considering offering Waymos as personal vehicles.
Here’s more from Reuters:
Pichai, on a post-earnings conference call, did not provide a timeline or any detail on how it plans to sell Waymo vehicles, beyond saying “there is future optionality for personal ownership.”
Waymo would likely offer personal ownership of its robotaxis through a partnership model, said David Heger, an analyst at Edward Jones. “Google doesn’t build its own automobiles and I certainly don’t think they would try to get into that business,” he said.
Pichai’s comments were in response to an analyst’s question about Waymo’s future. “This is probably the first question I’ve got on an earnings call on Waymo,” Pichai joked. “It’s a sign of its progress.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has promised for years that personal Teslas will become autonomous in the near future. Owners could offer them as robotaxis—like a combination of AirBnb and Uber. When they don’t need their vehicles, they could earn money from this unique business model with Tesla getting a cut from the earnings.
That’s nowhere close to happening—Tesla’s rollout of the robotaxi ride-hailing service is yet to begin. For years, Musk has promised things that aren’t even remotely close to existence, amassing support with just promises, government interest and investor enthusiasm. Those promises oftentimes are fulfilled, albeit with years-long delays.
Will Waymo’s robotaxi-for-everyone ambitions come to fruition? The company’s scope and scale of robotaxis as personal vehicles is unclear as of now. Musk even joked on Tesla’s earnings call on Tuesday, saying Waymo AVs with their expensive autonomous driving hardware are “waymo expensive” than Tesla’s relatively lower-cost approach that ditches radar and lidar for cameras and artificial intelligence. For now, we’ll have to wait and see.
60%: NHTSA Loosens AV Regulations
Photo by: InsideEVs
Regardless of the approach AV companies undertake, the speed of deployment depends on regulatory approvals and certification from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). With the agency firmly under the grip of the Trump administration, Musk may have a reason to rejoice.
NHTSA’s revised rules will allow some AVs to operate on U.S. roads that don’t comply with federal safety standards—like having a rearview mirror for example, according to Reuters. Reporting for less severe crashes will now be monthly and some AVs will be exempt from safety requirements.
Here’s more from the Reuters report:
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the new framework to boost autonomous vehicles would help U.S. automakers compete with Chinese rivals.
“This administration understands that we’re in a race with China to out-innovate, and the stakes couldn’t be higher,” Duffy said. “Our new framework will slash red tape.”
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety said it was disappointed that the U.S. Department of Transportation “chose to dilute, instead of enhance, the reporting requirements.”
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing nearly all major automakers, praised the USDOT.
The industry has “been hamstrung by government inaction … This announcement shows the administration is also proceeding with a sense of urgency, so we don’t cede AV leadership to China and other countries,” it said.
EV and AV-related programs draw mixed reactions in the U.S. Support depends on who you ask and what their stakes are in the process. That said, it’s true that the U.S. risks losing the AV race to China due to regulatory red tape.
But the sentiment regarding AVs and advanced driver assistance systems was greatly diluted at this week’s Shanghai Auto Show. A Xiaomi SU7 driving with its ADAS activated was involved in a fatal crash, killing three young female passengers in China in late March.
Now it will be worth keeping an eye on how AV companies balance public safety and tech advancements in the future.
90%: Volkswagen Jumps On The EREV Bandwagon
Photo by: Volkswagen
Volkswagen smoked Tesla to become Europe’s best-selling EV maker in the first quarter of this year. While the comeback is good news for the brand whose profits are tanking and EV sales struggling to take off, VW’s real competition is in China, where local players have eaten into its market share.
EREVs are already a growing segment in China and the automaker is now eyeing that segment. It showcased the ID. ERA concept at Auto Shanghai, an extended range EV VW developed with its group partner SAIC. A production version of that is expected to be VW’s first EREV model in China.
VW claims an EV-only range of 186 miles on the ID. ERA, plus an additional 435 miles with the gas generator. EREVs use combustion engines as generators to charge the high-voltage battery. But the engine is not connected to the wheels, only the electric motors are.
So in theory, EREVs offer the best of both worlds—gas and electric.
100%: Would You Buy A Personal Robotaxi?
The Waymo vehicles are expensive, with their cost potentially in six figures. But it’s also true that LiDAR costs are coming down. At some point in the future they could be democratized.
If these cars become cheaper, pass safety tests and are given regulatory approvals, would you consider buying one? What do you think are the pros and cons of having AVs as personal vehicles? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Have a tip? Contact the author: suvrat.kothari@insideevs.com
