Post alphabits1/11/2024 ![]() ![]() As part of its restructuring, TuSimple decided to scale back freight expansion, particularly as it involves unprofitable trucking lanes. Autonomous trucking competitor TuSimple also recently laid of 25% of its staff in order to streamline operations and keep the company in business. The problem of self-driving is consistently a hard and expensive one to solve. After Argo AI shutdown last year, many investors and OEMs have become more bearish on the future of autonomous vehicles - at least in the near term. The cuts at Waymo, however, might go deeper than the surface-level economic issues that are affecting virtually every technology company. Area 120, Google’s in-house incubator, was also significantly affected by the layoffs. Last week, Alphabet cut 6% of its global workforce, or around 12,000 people, including, we’re now learning, part of Waymo’s team. Most companies, including Alphabet, find themselves course-correcting after hiring for a different economic reality than we find ourselves in today. Reading news about company layoffs isn’t at all surprising in 2023 after the year we just had. Waymo will continue to develop its “Driver” in a way that’s applicable across business lines, which includes freeway capabilities that can be applied to both ride-hailing and trucking, the spokesperson said. A spokesperson did say Waymo was pulling back slightly on its fully autonomous deployment for freight trucking. Waymo denied claims that it was closing down Via, saying it remains fully committed to bringing its freight trucking solution to scale over time. Workers posting on Blind, a forum where verified professionals post about company layoffs, said many of the affected staffers were working on “Husky,” which they say was the code name for Waymo Via. A source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch Waymo is killing its trucking program, Waymo Via. It’s not yet clear how many of Waymo’s staff will be affected, and Waymo said it would be “a limited number of roles.” Based on posts from former employees, workers across the board were let go - from engineers working on perception and motion control to recruiters to fleet and vehicle technicians. ![]()
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